Six Nations of the Grand River Elected Chief Mark Hill writes an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling on the federal government to provide Six Nations with the resources needed to search the grounds of the former Mohawk Institute.
Survivors urge police to initiate a criminal investigation into missing children and unmarked burials relating to the Mohawk Institute. They also announce that Six Nations of the Grand River will provide $1 million in interim funding to support the creation and work of the Survivors’ Secretariat.
Survivors hire Kimberly Murray as the Executive Oversight Lead to assist them in establishing the Secretariat.
A Police Task Force is created to investigate deaths of children who died at the Institute. The Task Force is led by Six Nations Police, Brantford Police and the OPP. The Mandate of the Task Force is to find out who died, how they died, and where they are buried.
The Secretariat purchases one new ground-penetrating radar machine and upgrades a second machine already in the possession of Six Nations’ environment office.
Survivors hire Dr. Beverly Jacobs as the Indigenous Human Rights Monitor. The mandate of the Indigenous Human Rights is to monitor, examine, and assess the fairness, integrity and transparency of the Police Task Force’s investigation.
Laura Arndt is hired as Chief Operating Officer to help implement the work of the Secretariat.
The Task Force receives its first case connected with the discovery of adolescent remains found near the former Mohawk Institute.
Journalists and reporters are invited to Six Nations of the Grand River Territory to witness the final step of GPR (ground penetrating radar) training for Six Nations Police Service officers and community members.
The search for unmarked burials using GPR machines begins. In the fall of 2021, 60 10’x10’ grids were laid out to be GPR scanned. Searchers were able to scan 37 of these grids before the snow covered the grounds. The remaining 23 grids will be completed in early spring and new grids will be laid out. At the same time, Survivors hold a press conference at the Mohawk Village Memorial Park located by the Woodland Cultural Centre and begin the GPR search. Press coverage is received locally, regionally, nationally, and around the world.
The Secretariat is officially incorporated.
Survivors meet for strategic planning to determine next steps in recovering the missing children.
Survivors meet with former Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Justice Murray Sinclair. Survivors also meet with the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada.
The Secretariat scans 10 acres of land with LiDAR technology. The data from these scans are sent to be processed and analyzed.
The federal government announces $10.3 million in new funding over three years to support the work of the Secretariat.
NCTR agreement with the Survivors’ Secretariat was set in place.
Board of Directors is officially formed.
Survivors' Secretariat's Executive Oversight Lead and member of the Kahnesatake Mohawk Nation, Kimberly Murray, is appointed Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves by the federal government.
