By Canadian Press

Following criticism, Ottawa removes funding caps for residential school searches

Aug 16, 2024 | 3:57 PM

OTTAWA — The federal government is backtracking on a move to limit funding for searches of former residential school grounds.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree says the government has heard concerns from Indigenous leaders and communities “loud and clear.”

Communities could previously receive up to $3 million per year through the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund, but the government had moved to cap funding at $500,000.

Anandasangaree says in a statement the government will now lift that cap and remove planned restrictions on the funding, which goes toward locating burial sites at former residential schools and identifying children who never returned.

He says the government’s intention was to fund as many initiatives as possible but it made a mistake in not being flexible enough.

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That fund was created in the wake of Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation’s report in 2021 about 215 anomalies found on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press

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Ontario Provincial Police members take measurements during the search for unmarked graves using ground-penetrating radar on the 500 acres of the lands associated with the former Indian Residential School, the Mohawk Institute, in Brantford, Ont., Tuesday, November 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nick Iwanyshyn

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