(Montreal) McGill University said on Tuesday it would begin discussions with an Indigenous group that raised concerns about unmarked graves after a court ruled that excavation work as part of a project expansion of the university would cause “irreparable harm.
Posted at 7:48 p.m.
Judge Gregory Moore last week ordered a halt to all work on the former site of the Royal Victoria Hospital until the parties hold discussions to develop an archaeological plan for finding graves.
“McGill University takes the concerns of Indigenous communities about the New Vic project seriously and seeks to better understand how they can be addressed,” Katherine Gombay, a McGill spokeswoman, said in an email. She added that the university would engage in conversation with Indigenous complainants “in humility and in good faith.” The New Vic project aims to create a new center for research and education.
The judge also granted Kimberly R. Murray, the independent special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and graves related to residential schools for Indian children, intervenor status in the case. Mme Murray confirmed to The Canadian Press on Friday that she would attend meetings with the parties.
In his written decision released Tuesday, Justice Moore said identifying unmarked Indigenous graves is a priority for uncovering the truth and working toward reconciliation. He cited the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations on residential school cemeteries and made a connection to the health system.
The injunction was granted Thursday after a two-day hearing, following an application made in March by a group of Kahnawake elders known as the Mohawk Mothers. The group alleged that the bodies of Aboriginal patients from the Allan Memorial Institute and the Royal Victoria Hospital are buried at the site which is to be redeveloped.
Irreparable harm
The Mohawk Mothers claimed to have uncovered evidence of burials through interviews with a survivor of MK-Ultra mind control experiments conducted in the 1950s and 1960s by Dr.r Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute on the grounds of the Royal Victoria.
During the hearing, lawyers representing McGill and the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) argued that there was no evidence of unmarked burials at the site.
“Beyond what I consider to be the very strongly held beliefs of the complainants, there is in fact very little evidence to support their claim that there are any graves on the site of the Royal Victoria Hospital,” he said. said McGill attorney Doug Mitchell.
However, in his ruling, the judge referenced a 2016 archaeological report prepared for McGill and the SQI that suggested Mount Royal had been used as a burial site before Europeans arrived. The old hospital is on a slope of the mountain.
Judge Moore said the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm if excavation work was not suspended long enough to develop a proper archaeological plan to identify unmarked graves. He noted that there is no evidence that the project would be delayed by the suspension since the construction schedule has not been established.
The decision concludes that there is an urgent need to address the plaintiffs’ “legitimate concerns” about unmarked graves. Otherwise, the complainants and those who share their concerns will continue to deal with the trauma, the judge wrote.
Important decision
Julian Falconer, the attorney representing Mr.me Murray, called Justice Moore’s decision groundbreaking and said it was extremely important to Indigenous peoples that truth and reconciliation be at the heart of his decision.
The affidavit of M.me Murray provides the court with recommendations on best practices for undertaking a search for unmarked graves.
“The judge ordered that an in-depth dialogue take place outside of court, but also as part of the case management process. He also accepted that the information provided by the special interlocutor could be useful”, underlined Mr.e Falconer.
This article was produced with the financial support of the Meta Fellowships and The Canadian Press for News.