Missing Aboriginal children: six months of intensive work and already some answers

For years, families have remained unexplained or stopped, but since Law 79 was enacted, this is the beginning of an emerging response – and for some, there are already some concrete elements – about their children. that they have. lost track after their birth in an institution or after a medical evacuation.

According to the annual report of 2021-2022 (New window) made public on Thursday, the Family Support Branch is researching information about at least 55 children. In some cases, the same family is looking for several children. Most of the children came from the Atikamekw and Innu countries and were born between 1933 and 1978.

Various requests have made it possible to obtain medical files for some children, but also for parents. Nine death certificates were also issued.

Much work has been done, the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, said in the report. There’s still a lot to do, but I’m proud of this momentumhe says.

In fact, from the 1950s to the 1980s, dozens of Aboriginal children from isolated communities went missing, sent to hospitals in Quebec where they never returned. Several families testify at the National Inquiry to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (ENFFADA). Some also confessed to the show’s reporter InvestigationAnne Panasuk, since last year has been the special counsel for family support on this file.

But others did not start research and approached the Director of Family Support, Anne Panasuk, or the Association of Awacak Families when they heard the new law, the report said.

According to the report, a significant awareness raising and communication work remains to be done with, in particular, the Nordic countries under the agreement [Cris, Inuit et Naskapis] and other First Countries.

The report also states that of the older children, two of them died in the context of their residential school education.

The law aims to make families accessible to certain information held by institutions, public bodies and religious congregations, to give them insight into the circumstances of a child’s disappearance or death.

According to the Executive Director of the Association of Awacak Families-Little Beings of Light (at Atikamekw), Françoise Ruperthouse, Awacak carries within her the grief of losing a child and the memory of all the obstacles that precede the adoption of the law.. The association worked closely with Anne Panasuk and the Family Support Department.

” From the shadow of distrust, we move towards the light of distrust. “

A symbolic date

For the family of Agathe Awashish of Opitciwan, the application of Bill 79 made it possible to find a file but above all a date to begin healing decades of silence and pain.

For a long time Atikamekw said nothing. After Anne Panasuk’s first reports (New window) in 2015 about missing children in indigenous communities, he began speaking out.

Agathe Awashish could not remember the year, but her eldest was two or three years old, and it was summer when she boarded the train from the Oskélanéo logging camp near Opictciwan to give birth to Amos.

Agathe Awashish remembers giving birth after midnight, probably around 2:30 am She heard her baby boy crying, then nothing. He hasn’t seen it yet. Never heard of again.

The next day, someone came to announce his death. He saw, at the window, a small coffin pass by, but was it his son? Agathe then left on the train, empty -handed, with a heavy heart. With his wife, fifty years of silence. And for eight years, research conducted by his children gave nothing. Except at the beginning of the entry into force of law 79.

I took steps, but it didn’t work out., said Chantale Awashish, Agathe’s daughter. Requests for information, Amos hospital files, investigators on file. Nothing. By force, Chantale admitted that she was still skeptical of her mother’s story, which however did not change.

After sending a new request, thanks to the law, the Awashish family received Joseph’s file within a few days.

Joseph was born on August 11, 1961 at exactly 2:30 am Agathe Awashish was moved to tears when she learned this information. It was annoying for him. He said he never forgot itsaid Chantale, who traveled to attend the presentation of the report at the National Assembly in Quebec.

The file also indicates that Joseph died of a congenital heart anomaly.

Chantale and her family said they were happy to finally have the information. Next August 11, she will organize a small ceremony for her mother and for Joseph.

At the same time, I have other questions. The research is not over yet. We still have work to do and I can’t waitsaid Chantale Awashish, 58 years old.

The next steps were to find where his brother was buried and request an exhumation and DNA test. If he is that, we will take him to Opitciwan and bury him with our people, his people.

The report states that Obtaining a child’s medical records is often just the beginning of some other search aimed, specifically, at understanding the circumstances of a death or identifying a grave site-in most cases not families know..

” I want her to go in peace, when her time comes. “

Chantale Awashish will continue to search for answers for her 81 -year -old mother and for other families. In Opitciwan alone, about thirty families are searching for the missing child, according to Chantale Awashish, who is part of the Awacak association.

Recommendations and experts

According to the report, families want to talk to medical experts for a full review of the information they receive. This need demonstrates the necessary bond of trust that can be strengthened with the information obtained and with partner institutions, in order to continue the journey towards truth and well -being.says the report.

Ten general practitioners or specialists who are First Nations members or have worked with Aboriginal families have confirmed their willingness to support the families. Nurses and other health and social service specialists must meet to form a team of experts.

Three recommendations have also been made in the monitoring committee’s report. It recommends setting up a consistent method of archiving the information collected to respect confidentiality, to develop an information management protocol and finally, that the information is stored and not destroyed.

The Family Support Department is a permanent member of the law oversight committee. He works with families, the special counsel, the Awacak Association, indigenous organizations and the institutions covered by the law for the realization of his mandate. Its director reports directly to the ministry responsible for Aboriginal Affairs.