Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme speaks with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. (60 Minutes/Twitter)

By CKOM News Staff

Cowessess First Nation chief to lead national advisory committee

Feb 22, 2023 | 11:34 AM

Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme has been tasked with heading up the preservation of documents related to residential schools.

Delorme previously announced he wouldn’t be seeking re-election as Chief of the Saskatchewan First Nation in its April election. On Tuesday, he was named chairperson of the new Residential School Documents Advisory Committee for a five-year term.

“There were over 130 sponsored residential schools in this country,” Delorme said in a media release. “Today many local communities, ad hoc committees and First Nations are leading the way in the validation of unmarked graves attached to former residential schools.

“This advisory committee’s goal will help by empowering the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to house records many are seeking to help in their healing journey.”

Delorme came to national prominence in June of 2021, when the Cowessess First Nation announced 751 unmarked graves had been found on the site of a former residential school on the First Nation.

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“We welcome Chief Delorme’s leadership in this new role,” Stephanie Scott, the executive director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, said in the release.

“I am confident Indigenous communities, survivors and their families, and respect for Indigenous law will be central to the work of this new committee as it strives to preserve the true history of residential schools.”

In 2015, more than four million documents were shared with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, all parties vowed to collect historical documents relating to residential schools.

So far, the Canadian government has provided another 1.5 million documents and images to the commission, 12 previously unshared or updated school narratives, and the full document collection from a religious organization.

The committee is to develop recommendations on the identification and sharing of documents with the Winnipeg-based National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

The release said that the committee is to include survivors, community members and federal and expert representatives, and that Delorme’s mandate is to ensure Indigenous voices are reflected in all decisions.

— With files from The Canadian Press