Mandate of the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools

On June 8, 2022, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada announced the appointment of Kimberly Murray as Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools.

The Special Interlocutor’s mandate started on June 13, 2022, and will end in the Fall of 2024. 

Mandate

The Special Interlocutor will identify needed measures and make recommendations for a new federal legal framework to ensure the respectful and culturally appropriate treatment of unmarked graves and burial sites of children associated with former Indian residential schools. This will be done in close collaboration with First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments, representative organizations, communities, Survivors and families,  departments of the Government of Canada, provinces and territories, and other relevant institutions such as church entities and record holders.

The Special Interlocutor will function independently and impartially, in a non-partisan and transparent manner to achieve the objectives of her mandate.

The work of the Special Interlocutor will be to:

• engage with First Nations, Inuit and Métis governments, representative organizations, communities, Survivors and families to discuss issues of concern around the identification, preservation, and protection of unmarked graves and burial sites, including the potential repatriation of remains
• examine the existing federal, provincial and territorial laws, regulations, tools and practices that currently apply and have applied to protect unmarked graves and burial sites connected to former residential schools, as well as applicable Indigenous laws and protocols, in order to develop a description of the current legal framework
• identify areas of improvement in Canadian law and make recommendations for a new federal legal framework to identify, protect, and preserve unmarked burial sites connected to former residential schools and lands associated with the schools

Reporting

The Special Interlocutor delivered an interim report in June 2023 (“Interim Report, Sacred Responsibility: Searching for the Missing Children and Unmarked Burials”) where the Special Interlocutor described her work and progress to date in relation to her mandate, and will deliver a final report in Fall 2024 before the end of her mandate, where the Special Interlocutor will identify needed measures and make recommendations relating to federal laws, regulations, policies and practices surrounding unmarked graves and burial sites associated with former Indian residential schools. 

These reports are being delivered concurrently to the Minister of Justice and to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Survivors, families, leaders and communities, and to the public. 

All reports describe the engagement process, including the identification of elements that could inform future initiatives or a new approach to engagement on issues of common concern to the federal government and First Nations, Inuit and Métis.

Additional information

For more detailed information on the Special Interlocutor’s mandate, including a list of specific objectives to achieve, please consult Justice Canada’s website or the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor’s website.