Ottawa Reverses Funding Caps for Residential School Searches

Ottawa is removing its recently imposed $500,000 cap for funding focused on locating or memorializing children who didn’t return home from residential schools. The government has reversed last month’s decision to limit federal funding for the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support program to $500,000 per community—a significant reduction from the previous annual cap of $3 million, says Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree. “Our intention was to fund as many initiatives as possible but we recognize that the lack of flexibility of these changes was a mistake,” Anandasangaree said on Aug. 16. “Communities know best what is needed to undertake this important work, on their own terms. We committed to being there alongside communities every step of the way. That commitment remains and I apologize for any hurt or re-traumatization these changes may have caused.”...