Lack of co-operation in accessing records limits the ability to identify the remains of 215 children: Mary Ellen-Turpel Lafond

The director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia says a lack of co-operation in accessing records and other data limits the ability to identify the remains of 215 children found at the former residential school in Kamloops.

Mary Ellen-Turpel Lafond says churches and the federal government have fought for more than 20 years against making such school records available.

She says the public has an obligation to help identify the remains.

But a forensic human identification expert says the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation faces a drawn-out and expensive process to identify the remains.

Top Catholic Church official in Vancouver expressed deep apology

The top Catholic Church official in Vancouver took to social media to express his ``deep apology and profound condolences'' to those devastated by the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Archbishop J. Michael Miller tweeted yesterday the church was ``unquestionably wrong in implementing a government colonialist policy'' of residential schools.

He says words of apology must come with tangible actions that support the full disclosure of the truth, and he committed the archdiocese to a series of first steps.

Miller says the archdiocese in Vancouver will be fully transparent with its archives and records related to residential schools and urges other Catholic and government organizations to do the same.