A federal official blocked a request by a survivor’s organization seeking access to a key register in a search for 100-year-old records they hope could identify four children who died at the Shingwauk and Wawanosh residential schools in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
After exhausting all research avenues, the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association wanted to search the government’s Indian status register for the names of two boys and two girls who died while attending the institutions in the early 1900s.
Their bid was blocked this month by the official in charge of the register, citing privacy laws to deny a request