Sinclair: 'Get on with it'

Photo: The Canadian Press

Commission chairman Justice Murray Sinclair raises his arm asking residential school survivors to stand at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ottawa on June 2, 2015. Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Sinclair says it is critical for federal, territorial and provincial officials involved in child welfare across the country to get on with addressing the over-representation of Indigenous kids in the system and devastating impacts associated with it. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Murray Sinclair says it is critical for federal, territorial and provincial officials to get on with addressing the over-representation of Indigenous kids in the child welfare system and the devastating impacts associated with it.

Sinclair, now an independent member of the Senate, says there is an unmistakable connection between the number of Aboriginal children in care and those who end up in jail, noting the issue topped the TRC's calls to action.

The commission spent six years documenting the experiences of Canada's residential school legacy — a government-funded, church-operated assimilation program that existed from the 1870s to 1996 — and issued 94 recommendations upon the completion of its work.

Sinclair says he will deliver an address to this effect at an emergency conference in Ottawa this week, an event called at the request of Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott.

He says Philpott and her senior officials appear prepared to take additional steps to confront systemic failures, such as allocating additional dollars in the upcoming federal budget, but that remains to be seen.

Sinclair says Ottawa can't be caught up in a "well-intentioned" dialogue, adding it needs to be able to point to success.