By Canadian Press

O’Toole pledges plan to implement all truth and reconciliation calls to action

Aug 23, 2021 | 9:52 AM

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says he will develop an action plan to tackle all the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Conservative party’s platform commits to a plan to implement six specific items that deal with the deaths of children in residential schools and the sites where they were buried.

The Tories have also pledged to fund investigations at all former residential school sites where unmarked graves may exist, including where those have already been discovered.

Ground-penetrating radar has located hundreds of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools, including 215 in Kamloops, B.C., and 751 found by the Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan.

But many more of the commission’s 94 calls to action are for the federal government, and when asked about them on the campaign trail today, O’Toole said he would partner with First Nations and Indigenous leaders to come up with an action plan and set priorities based on their needs.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 23, 2021.

The Canadian Press