Gatherings

The Independent Special Interlocutor is hosting six National Gatherings on Unmarked Burials to engage with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Survivors, Elders, families, and communities, to facilitate knowledge sharing amongst those leading the search and recovery of missing children and unmarked graves associated with Indian Residential Schools. The Gatherings will focus on topics that will inform recommendations for a new federal legal framework which include:

• Addressing trauma and the need for Indigenous health and wellness supports for Survivors, families, and communities in relation to the search and recovery of unmarked burials and missing children.
• Indigenous laws and protocols that are essential in the search and recovery of missing children. Indigenous Peoples have their own laws and protocols relating to burials, funeral practices, protection of lands and their responsibilities to the missing children.
• The importance of supporting Survivors, Indigenous families, and communities who are leading this Sacred work.
• Affirming Indigenous data sovereignty and the right of Indigenous Peoples to exercise ownership, control, access, and possession over their records and data.