Internal records show Transport Canada organized a department-wide "healing circle" after employees made comments during a reconciliation presentation questioning claims that 215 children were buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.Blacklock's Reporter says documents obtained through the Access to Information Act show senior officials condemned the remarks, with then-deputy minister Arun Thangaraj telling staff the comments were "uninformed, wrong and hurtful.""We wanted to address the offensive comments made during the learning event," Thangaraj wrote in a memo to employees. "To be clear, those comments are uninformed, wrong and hurtful."He added that "it is an established fact that 59 of the 140 Residential Schools identified under the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement had a documented cemetery on-site.""Canada's Parliament has unanimously declared what happened at Residential Schools was genocide," Thangaraj wrote. "The atrocities that occurred at these schools are an undeniable truth."The memo followed a 2024 departmental videoconference on reconciliation titled The Ugly History, which examined the history of Canada's residential school system, the experiences of students and the legal consequences that followed.According to internal emails, managers became concerned after unidentified employees posted comments in the meeting's chat function that were described as "questionable," "vile" and "triggering." The videoconference was not recorded, and the chat messages were not preserved, but correspondence indicates many of the comments challenged claims surrounding the reported burial site at the former Kamloops residential school."I could see from the chat messages that we had an issue," one regional director wrote."I posted a message in capital letters that the comments section was now closed. I had to post that three times as people kept commenting. After the session I had people come to see me in tears. I had calls from other managers from different regions upset.".Another executive wrote that the discussion had undermined the purpose of the event."The goal of the event was to share information about Canada's long history with Residential Schools so we can continue the conversation that started on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation," employees were told. "During the event, the chat involved inappropriate and distressing comments that were directed toward the topic of Residential Schools."Following the incident, Transport Canada invited employees to participate in a virtual healing circle."In response to the distressing comments shared during our recent educational session on Canada's Indian Residential Schools, we must do more to advance reconciliation and make Transport Canada a more inclusive and safe place to work," a departmental notice stated."On November 14, Transport Canada's indigenous relations team is organizing a virtual healing circle open to all employees. Join us to listen, share, reflect and heal."The controversy stems from a 2021 announcement by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, which said ground-penetrating radar had identified what it described as 215 potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.Since that announcement, no human remains have been exhumed or recovered at the site. The federal government has nevertheless provided the First Nation with $12.1 million in funding to support work that includes the potential exhumation of remains.
