WARNING: This story contains details of experiences in residential schools.
An organization that leads the efforts to investigate the oldest and oldest residential school in Canada fears that federal financing has been denied as punishment for criticizing the liberal government, placing their search for missing children and burials without marking in danger.
Laura Arndt, led by the Secretariat of Survivors, a non -profit organization investigating the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Ontario, warned in December that her organization was in a serious financial narrow, at the edge of the total closure, while waiting for a decision of financing.
That decision, a denial, finally landed in the Andt email input tray at 12:16 AM of January 23, 2025, he says, and points out that it is a strange time for the Canadian government to send an official statement, particularly to trauma survivors.
The email contained a letter that was digitally signed only six hours earlier, but was dated December 20, 2024: the day after indigenous CBC reported the situation. And even more strange, the letter explained, in regards to Canada, the Secretariat has not been financially pinched at all. Rather, it has $ 4.2 million in “unbounded funds.”
“The saddest part is, I actually read email at 12:16 in the morning because my phone woke me up,” Arndt said.
“And I couldn’t sleep because everything I kept thinking was: how am I going to explain this to survivors when I don’t even understand what they tell me?”
Perplexed, noting that his own audits contradict Canada’s accounting, wrote on February 4. You are still waiting for answers.
Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, the Secretariat received around $ 10.3 million from the Community Support Fund for the unbeliever of the residential schools of $ 320 million.
Nicknamed the hole for its food that Nina, the Mohawk Institute was directed by the Anglican Church and the Federal Government from 1828 to 1970, taking the children mainly from the six nearby nations of the Grand River. The Secretariat has documented 101 deaths there.
A review of the relevant financial records and correspondence shows that Canada and the Secretariat agree approximately the income of the group, but not the expenses. Canada says that the group has spent $ 6.1 million in three years, while the audits of the Secretariat register $ 8.5 million in expenses.
Arndt said they had a surplus of $ 2.5 million to start this fiscal year, which Ottawa previously allowed them to carry out, not $ 4.2 million. Since the fiscal year is almost finished, they have used the transfer, leaving them without not spent cash, he said.
The records suggest that Canada may be refusing to recognize some of the expenses of the Secretariat as legitimate or “eligible” in the conditions of the program, preparing the scenario for a possible setback.
Roberta Hill, survivor of the Mohawk Institute, a member of the six nations and member of the Secretariat’s Board, feels that Canada implicitly accuses them of misuse of money.
“I think it is quite shocking, in reality, because basically it says that we are incompetent, and that is not the truth,” he said.
“We have been responsible for all the money that has been spent. So I don’t know where this figure occurs.”
‘A normal part’ of the process
The Minister of Indigenous Relations Crown, Gary Anandasangaree, was not available for an interview, and his department did not directly approach those concerns.
“It is a normal part of the verification process for officials to ensure that the funds have been spent according to the terms and conditions of the financing agreements,” spokesman Jacinthe Goulet wrote.
The department will continue to work with the recipients “to address any concern and ask that they can have on eligible activities and other conditions under which the program operates,” he added in a statement.
Arndt said they secured some money from the Ontario government to continue operating until the end of February, which means that they are now back where they were in December.
The Trudeau government established the support fund in 2022 with the commitment to find children, and in December, Arndt accused the government of breaking that promise. She is doubling those comments now.
“The question I am asking in my head is, is this compensation for not doing and playing with your rules?” She said, adding that her other question is if Canada simply wants to block the work.
In three years, the Secretariat has submitted 12 reports and three audits that were never questioned by any official, Arndt said. She feels that the moment of concerns points to “mean policy” around the group that speaks.
“I think Canada’s message is: ‘Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, because we can cut the funds'”.
The Mohawk Institute is known for the abuse that children have reported, including accusations of beatings, whipping and solitary confinement in an improvised prison. The survivors reported having seen the faces of children in urine or excrement, and feeding with the oatmeal of Wormy and mimada flesh, according to federal records.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported that a father successfully demanded the director for imprisoning a girl In a diet only with water and whipping it with a strap in 1914, and that in 1907 the institute had two prison cells where supervisors locked fugitive for a week after capture.
Hill said Ottawa promised to support the survivors, qualifying the process as “a farce” if that does not happen.
“All we are asking for is the truth. Is that so difficult? Just tell us where the children are.”
A national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis line is available in 1-866-925-4419 for emotional services and crisis reference for survivors and those affected.
Mental health advice and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness Direct Line at 1-855-242-3310 or By online chat.
