Southern Quebec Inuit Association Worker Recounts Hearing of the discovery of 215 Unmarked Graves in Kamloops

Canada is still reckoning with the impacts of colonialism, as many Indigenous communities continue to carry out searches for bodies of children who formerly residential schools.

The Office for the Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools hosted a three day conference series in downtown Montreal. The National Gathering on Unmarked Burials: Supporting the Search and Recovery of Missing Children invited community leaders conducting searches, residential school survivors and the general population to participate in the events hosted across the three days. 

To commence the conference, a sacred fire was lit in parc Place du Canada at 6 a.m. on September 6. Just beside the fire, CUTV journalist Savanna Craig spoke with Nina Segalowitz, a navigator at the Southern Quebec Inuit Association, about why she believes this conference is so important. 

"The conference is really, really, super important because were talking about the burials and the children who we have yet to find," said Segalowitz.

In her role at the Southern Quebec Inuit Association, Segalowitz works with community members who have experienced intergenerational trauma from residential schools and the sixties scoop survivors.

"A lot of the time as a front line worker of community worker, there's a feeling of helplessness sometimes," she said. "The day that those 215 original babies were found... since those original children were found, more have been found over time, and we're over 10 thousand and there's thousands left [to find]."

She said coming to this conference is empowering because it shows that First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities are guiding the process in these searches.

Segalowitz reflects on how emotional it was to attend the opening of the sacred fire – reminding her that the Indigenous children who died in residential schools weren't able to attend these sacred ceremonies.