Barely six months of application and the new law 79, which allows the families of missing indigenous children to shed light on the circumstances of the death of their little one, has already proven its essential character: a first annual report recently filed status of 35 tracing requests concerning 55 children. Nine death certificates have been found so far, allowing as many extended families to unravel a decades-long mystery.
Reading this report, which follows the entry into force of the Act authorizing the communication of personal information to the families of Aboriginal children who have disappeared or died following admission to an establishment (Bill 79), again forces one to dive in the horrors of our colonial past.
Between 1950 and 1980, in Quebec, sick Aboriginal children were evacuated from their communities to health establishments for treatment. They left alone and sometimes did not return. The families received the news of the death of their little one without explanation, neither certificate, nor small body to bury; others have completely lost all trace of their child.
Law 79 precisely allows those relatives who have remained unanswered for decades to carry out research, to open medical and religious archives (steps which have hitherto remained in vain and which the lever of the law makes it possible to animate), in order to figure out what their child died of — and sometimes even if he really died. This is another necessary quest for truth.
Investigative journalist Anne Panasuk played the role of special advisor for family support during the early stages of this operation, which is rooted in listening and being available to bereaved families. “Families have the right to know what happened to their children whom they lost track of after a medical evacuation,” wrote Ms.me Panasuk in the preamble of the report. “It is a first step of respect to bring peace to families and that the new law allows us to do. »
Legislative measures were therefore needed so that parents and families, broken by the loss of a child and the total absence of explanations, could hope to have answers. In the sadly famous file of residential schools for Aboriginals, reparation will also involve the opening of archives. The hour of truth must finally ring.
To see in video