Commemoration held for Indigenous children

MONTREAL — Members of the Atikamekw nation are holding four days of commemorations for Indigenous children who disappeared from Quebec hospitals.

A ceremony on the traditional territory of the Manawan community, about 250 kilometres north of Montreal, began Monday, and members of the provincial legislature, including Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafreniere, are scheduled to attend an event Tuesday.

Sipi Flamand, of the Atikamekw community of Manawan, says about 50 Atikamekw children disappeared after being admitted to Quebec hospitals between the 1930s and 1980s.

He said children from Anishinaabe and Innu communities also weren’t heard from again after they were sent to health-care facilities in the province.

Quebec passed a law in June to help family members access records of their children who may have disappeared or died after being admitted to provincial institutions before December 1992.