The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s Research and Academic department will be hosting a 3‑day gathering this October which will bring together community and academic researchers to share their experiences, challenges and successes of research and work related to missing children and unmarked burials. The gathering will be embedded in ceremony, include formal opportunities for presenters to share their research and experiences and create space for attendees to engage in dialogue. It will also provide an opportunity to develop key discussion papers that will assist in moving academic, policy and research agendas forward.
Kimberly Murray, Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Burial Sites, is the event’s keynote. More details will be provided here in the coming weeks regarding the agenda, travel, and other important information related to the gathering.
Registration for this event opens on September 15, 2022.
About the keynote speaker
Kimberly Murray is a member of the Kahnesatake Mohawk Nation and Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Burial Sites. She is currently the Executive Lead for the newly created Survivors’ Secretariat at the Six Nations of the Grand River, working to recover the missing children and unmarked burials at the Mohawk Institute. Kimberley was the Executive Director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada where she worked to ensure that Survivors of Canada’s residential school system were heard and remembered, and to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non‐Indigenous people.
Murray is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dianne Martin Medal for Social Justice through Law, the City of Toronto’s Aboriginal Affairs Access, Equity and Human Rights Award, the Law Foundation’s Guthrie Award, the Law Society of Ontario’s Laura Legge Award and the 2017 National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Law and Justice. In 2015, the Indigenous Bar Association granted Kimberley the Indigenous Peoples Counsel (IPC) designation. Most recently, she was awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s Medal of Distinction in Public Administration.
Health Support Info
If you are a Survivor and need emotional support, a national crisis line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week:
Residential School Survivor Support Line: 1–866-925‑4419
Please note that this program is subject to change or cancellation without notice.