After only six months of application, the new law 79 on missing indigenous children has enabled 35 families to begin research into the fate of 55 toddlers. If the families have not yet obtained all the answers, they at least have support at each stage of the process, which could go, if the families so wish, up to the exhumation.
“From the shadow of mistrust we are moving towards the light of trust. It is with this image that Françoise Ruperthouse, Executive Director of the Awacak Family Association (little beings of light in the Atikamekw language), summarizes the work done by the team set up by Quebec City last September to help families to find traces of missing children.
In her message, published in the very first annual report of Law 79 tabled Thursday in the National Assembly, Ms. Ruperthouse recalls that “Awacak carries within her this suffering of losing a child and this memory of all the obstacles in the search for truth that precedes the adoption of the Act authorizing the communication of personal information to the families of Aboriginal children who have disappeared or died following admission to an institution”.
But she stresses that she lends herself “with great pleasure” to the search for the truth and works “in close collaboration” with the other members of the team, namely the Family Support Department of the Secretariat for Native Affairs, the monitoring committee and the special advisor for family support, former journalist Anne Panasuk.
“This law so longed for by the First Nations is a step towards the solution: the quest for the truth”, indicates the latter in the presentation of the report. Recalling that families “have the right to know”, she evokes a “first step of respect to bring peace to families”.
In recent months, the former journalist has multiplied communication and awareness-raising activities in the communities, in particular during a tour with Awacak on the North Shore. “We are still taking our first steps, but we know the path to take,” she wrote. I’m confident […] that we will be able to meet the challenge of trust that arises […]. »
Very young children
As of February 28, 2022, the Family Support Branch had responded to requests from 35 people in connection with the disappearance of 55 children. The Secretariat for Indigenous Affairs, which signs the report, indicates that it is too early to present a “detailed analysis of the requests crossing different factors”.
But he already draws a first portrait of the situation. Thus, it can be seen that slightly more than half (51.4%) of support requests submitted to the Family Support Department come from the Innu nation, mainly from Pakuashipu and Unamen Shipu (La Romaine).
But it is among the Atikamekw, who represent 28.6% of applicants, that the number of children sought is the highest. Alone, 6 families from Manawan are looking for 20 children.
“Some of these families had already testified before the commissioners of ENFFADA [Enquête nationale sur les femmes et les filles autochtones disparues et assassinées]. Others had not yet started any research”, specify the authors of the annual report.
“Families from other nations are beginning to show up, but significant awareness and communication work remains to be done with, in particular, the northern nations under agreement (Crees, Inuit and Naskapi) and other First Nations”, indicates the Secretariat to aboriginal affairs.
The requests are mainly made by women (70%) and mainly concern female children born between 1933 and 1978. A majority of cases concern toddlers aged one year and under. Only 3 of the 55 children targeted by the searches were over the age of 5 when they disappeared.
Interestingly, the vast majority of claimants are siblings of the missing child. “This reinforces the relevance of the exemptions provided for in the Act allowing members of the child’s extended family to receive the communication of personal information, since only five of the 35 applicants are direct relatives of the child. [qui seraient les seuls autorisés à recevoir ces informations]. »
Communications issues
After meeting with the families, management made numerous access to information requests to the various CISSSs and CIUSSSs concerned. “The absence of medical documentation, sometimes explained by the conservation schedules of institutions or by the transfer of certain archives to other organizations, does not mean that research has stopped, explain the authors of the report. Rather, it makes it possible to activate other possible avenues with religious archivists, parishes, presbyteries, social service institutions or even certain witnesses. »
It is also indicated that obtaining the child’s medical file “is often only the beginning of several other searches aimed, in particular, at understanding the circumstances of a death or identifying a burial place” unknown to the families.
Over the next year, the team will also have to find a solution to the communication “issues” that have been raised. “Whether it’s follow-up communications between law enforcement partners and families (email, telephone, videoconference, etc.), or even institutional practices with the organizations targeted by the requests (email, postal document, etc.), applicants do not always have access and technological literacy likely to make communications secure and easy,” the report noted. “Reflections in this regard are continuing. […] in order to determine an operation that better meets the realities of each of the people involved in the research. »
In his introductory remarks, the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, welcomed the “significant” work done by the team he appointed. “I am very satisfied with the progress already made and I am confident that our efforts will continue to progress rapidly for the benefit of bereaved families. »