New agreement to release Vital Statistics records on residential school deaths in Manitoba

A new agreement to release Manitoba records to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) will help the organization continue its research into Canada’s residential school system and the deaths of Indigenous children.

The centre signed a memorandum of agreement with Vital Statistics to receive copies of its records, including birth certificates and death certificates.

“This information will help families and the NCTR to fill in some of the gaps that currently stop us from finding out further truth about residential school children who did not return home and are in unmarked burials,” NCTR executive director Stephanie Scott said at a news conference on Monday.

The NCTR was created nearly eight years ago by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to be the stewards of its gathered statements, documents and sacred items, and to continue research, education and community engagement.

Scott said the new collaboration also responds to one of the TRC’s calls to action that asked government agencies to provide key records on the deaths of Indigenous children in the care of residential schools.

Among the ways this information will be used is to establish a missing child register – which specifically addresses the call to action #72.

"It is meant to identify each child that has passed away at a residential school or within a certain short period of time after," said Raymond Frogner, head of the NCTR archives.

He said piecing together all the different sources of information can be a bit of a jigsaw puzzle.

"The records were undervalued to begin with. The record-keeping was inconsistent," he said, adding the centre has visited more than 150 different sites, including federal and provincial sites, along with Christian church entities.

"There is no one single source of education records; it is dispersed across religious entities, government offices, and private records of teachers and administrators."

He said the centre is currently working on getting coroner's reports, which directly relate to the lives of the children who died.

Government Services Minister James Teitsma said the agreement also represents a purposeful step by the Manitoba government towards reconciliation.

“It is our hope that the sharing of this information will bring closure to families, and will help with healing for the families and communities of the children who died as a result of the residential school system.”

Teitsma said while this information has always been available for families through Vital Statistics in Manitoba, there was a $30 administration fee.

Frogner said bringing all the info together is also important.

"This is part of the NCTR's effort to… create as complete as possible a history of the residential school system," he said. "We are piecing together different sets of records to try to understand the residential school experience."

He said going forward, families will be able to visit the NCTR and not only get access to a child's death certificate, but get a thorough context on the history of the school and the life and experience the child had there. He added the register is restricted to families only as the information is considered private.

Frogner said provinces including B.C., Ontario and Alberta have already provided similar information. The centre is still in discussions with Saskatchewan, Quebec, and the Northwest Territories to get the same vital statistics. 

If you are a former residential school student in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419, or the Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll-free line at 1-800-721-0066.