TRC seeks more documents

OTTAWA - The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is seeking a court opinion on its mandate to collect government documents under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

“What is at stake here is control over history,” said TRC counsel Julian Falconer in a Dec. 3 news release. “While in the last 12 months Canada has produced approximately one million documents, with a century and a half of residential school operations, many more documents remain undisclosed.

“Put simply, a ‘half loaf ’ of documents isn’t going to do it.”

The TRC will make the reference Dec. 20-21 to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice “because document challenges remain largely unresolved,” said TRC Chair Justice Murray Sinclair in a Dec. 3 news release. “The commission is taking this step very reluctantly and with a sense that it has been left with no alternatives.”

“Canada’s honouring of the settlement agreement is not only important to survivors, but (also) to Canadians across the country,” Falconer said. “Tragically, the commission is running out of time to protect these issues.”

The settlement agreement called for the TRC to create a historical record of the often dark 150-year history of the residential schools.