City of Toronto’s actions to Advance Truth, Reconciliation and Justice - by Councillor Mike Layton, seconded by Mayor John Tory

Residential schools operated in Canada for more than 160 years, up until the late 1990s, were Federally funded, and church-run. The last school closed in 1996. This discovery must move our Country and our Governments beyond words of condolences and toward actions that advance truth and reconciliation. We must recommit to advancing the Calls for Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the Calls for Justice from the MMIWG2S Final Report - Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. These actions must be far reaching and must work to advance access to housing, clean water, prosperity and justice for all Indigenous people, in partnership with Indigenous communities. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada made recommendations on efforts governments, justice systems and church officials should take to try to locate, name and commemorate the children who died. Six of these recommendations specifically list the actions the commission determined should be done to address missing children and burial information, including funding and co-ordination support to locate and protect school burial sites, both known and unknown. We must act now to implement Call to Action 82 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which calls upon Provincial and Federal Governments, in collaboration with survivors and their organizations, to commission and install a publicly accessible, highly visible, residential schools monument in each capital city to honour survivors and families. This is a concrete action that Toronto is already pursuing through the creation of the Indian Residential School Survivors Restoration of Identity Project and Spirit Garden at Nathan Phillips Square, in partnership with Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre. Earlier this year, City Council allocated $13 million towards the construction of the Spirit Garden to honour residential and day school survivors and all the children who were lost to their families and communities and those that are living with the trauma. The Spirit Garden will be a peaceful, contemplative space to help advance truth and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Toronto. We must now call on our partners in the Provincial and Federal Governments, as well as Toronto's corporate leaders and charitable sector to also contribute to this essential and initiative, which is an important part of moving truth and reconciliation from discussion to action. This Motion is urgent as it ensures the City of Toronto is responding to the discovery of the 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops with actions to support the Indigenous Community.

3. City Council call on the Federal Government to drop the Federal Court appeals related to compensation for First Nations children separated from their families. 4. City Council request the Director, Indigenous Affairs Office, in consultation with relevant staff, to report to the Aboriginal Affairs Advisory Committee and the Executive Committee on what further actions are needed to advance truth, reconciliation and justice, how the City will hold itself accountable to community in advancing these actions, and whether additional resources and funding are required to further the City of Toronto's work on reconciliation.