The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Missing Children and Unmarked Graves in Canada will come to an end Friday afternoon in Montreal with a preliminary declaration on whether Canada had committed genocide against Indigenous peoples in residential schools and other institutions.
The decision is being called a “historic declaration.” It concluded a week-long deliberation, announcing a preliminary statement today. The final decision will be delivered in a report due September 30th, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
“If we are successful, the declaration would actually list all of the crimes that are alleged affirmatively that Canada has indeed committed these crimes and the declaration would note that the state has international obligations,” said Christa Big Canoe, lead prosecutor and legal director at Aboriginal Legal Services.
The tribunal, organized by the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, was established to address allegations that Canada committed crimes against humanity and genocide through residential schools and other institutions.
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The tribunal heard from international law expert and human rights lawyer Fannie Lafontaine, who spoke about the legal definition of genocide and its connection to Canada’s involvement in residential schools, forced and coerced sterilization and other government policies.
Genocide is based on the intent to destroy a group and that repeated patterns of government policies over time can demonstrate this intent.
Establishing that Canada had committed genocide in residential schools demands accountability for their crimes within policies of assimilation. Under this framework, genocide is defined under terms of international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly.
These factors include:
The PPT says that they invited Prime Minister Mark Carney to represent Canada in the tribunal. An empty chair was placed in front of the judges to represent Canada’s place as the defense.
The long-term consequences from residential schools against Indigenous Peoples go well beyond cultural loss. The connections between colonialist policies and actions on present-day outcomes were evaluated in terms of transgenerational and intergenerational effects, including psychosocial, developmental, environmental, and neurobiological mechanisms as well as trauma responses which extended beyond the closing of the last residential school in 1997.
From the 1880s to the 1990s, over 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were torn from their families and sent to Indian residential schools, often located far from their homes. Many students suffered neglect and abuse. Thousands of children died.
More than 100 Indian residential schools were established across Canada, in almost every province and territory. The Government of Canada used the schools, run by Catholic and Protestant churches, to remove children from the influence of their families and communities, language, culture and beliefs.
The deliberate, forcible removal of children from their families with the intent to destroy Indigenous culture and identity constitutes a genocide.
“It’s a huge determination that will contribute to making this issue visible again on the Canadian agenda and will make recommendations for reparations,” Lafontaine said. “This reparation is not just some kind of moral imperative, it’s a legal obligation.”
The preliminary statement will be released at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon.
