Some landlords blocking residential school searches, government adviser says – National | 24CA News
Some personal landowners are refusing entry to residential college survivors who wish to carry out ceremony or search their properties for doable unmarked graves, a Senate committee heard Tuesday.
Kimberly Murray, who was appointed by the federal authorities to supply it with recommendation on learn how to deal with doable burial websites, instructed senators about her function and the principle issues she says she has heard from Indigenous communities.
“We need access to land,” stated Murray. “This is what keeps me awake many nights, thinking about how some things could escalate.”
She stated there may be presently no federal regulation in place to guard suspected gravesites or grant communities entry to land that’s privately owned however is believed to be dwelling to unmarked graves.
When residential colleges had been closed, Murray stated, the lands they had been situated on weren’t turned again over to First Nations or different Indigenous communities – “the rightful landholders,” as Murray put it.
She stated some landowners have refused to supply entry to their properties “even to do ceremony, let alone to search the grounds.”
Murray added that her workplace has needed to write letters and meet with landowners to try to persuade them in any other case.
“We have landowners that have campers on top of the burials of children, known burials,” Murray stated. “We don’t have any law to put a stop to this.”
In her testimony, Murray didn’t elaborate on specifics, however instructed senators such lands should be protected.
She stated whereas provinces have numerous legal guidelines that shield lands for various causes, these are sometimes not enforced and are unlikely to supply cohesive safety for unmarked graves.
“We have a big gap federally in the legislation.”
© 2023 The Canadian Press
