By Canadian Press

Some landowners not letting residential school survivors search property: official

Mar 21, 2023 | 8:32 AM

OTTAWA — A special official tasked with providing the government with advice on unmarked graves says some landowners are refusing to provide survivors access to their property. 

Kimberly Murray testified today before a committee of senators about her role and the main concerns she says she has heard from Indigenous communities. 

Murray says residential school survivors need to have better access to land, adding some landowners have refused to provide access to their properties “even to do ceremony, let alone to search the grounds.”

She says her office has had to write letters and meet with landowners to try and convince them otherwise. 

Murray did not provide specific examples, but told senators some landowners have campers parked “on top” of where children are buried. 

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She says there is no law in place to stop this and believes such lands ought to be protected.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 21, 2023. 

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press