LETTERS OF SUPPORT

International Memorial Service for Survivors of Institutional Child Abuse

In March, 2000, the Law Commission of Canada produced a Report to Parliament entitled “Restoring Dignity: Responding to Child Abuse in Canadian Institutions”. The Report provides recommendations for redressing child abuse in Canadian Institutions. Among other recommendations, the Law Commission stated that there should be places and times where and when those who lived in institutions can record their experiences and where historical materials concerning these institutions can be gathered.

The Law Commission also noted in its Report that many survivors need some kind of memorial, whether in the form of a physical structure or a service of some nature, to ensure that their experiences, once acknowledged, will not be forgotten. The Commission stated that above all, any kind of memorial should be a testament to the children of the institutions: those who disclosed what they went through and those who did not; those who survived and those who died; those who have healed and who help others to heal. Any initiative in this regard must not cause further harm to survivors, their families or their communities.

In its Recommendations on redressing institutional child abuse, the Law Commission of Canada emphasized that community initiatives which are directed by survivors and based on survivors’ needs should be promoted as a significant means of redressing institutional child abuse.

The Internations’ Justice Federation is an organization of institutional child abuse survivors and their family and friends. It is sponsoring an international memorial service for survivors and their family and friends. This community-based initiative is seeking to respond and implement the recommendations of the Report on Institutional Child Abuse. We wish them success in their endeavour.

Yours truly,

Nathalie Des Rosiers
President
Law Commission of Canada