CANADA
The Globe and Mail
STEVE RENNIE
OTTAWA — The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, Apr. 22 2014
After wrapping up nearly four years of public hearings, and with the clock ticking on a final report on the legacy of physical and sexual abuse at Indian residential schools, a pile of new documents is about to land on the doorstep of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
It has been more than a year since an Ontario court ordered the federal government to hand over reams of material to the commission.
The inquiry was supposed to end in July, but its mandate has been extended by a year.
Even with the extra time, researchers are still under the gun to sort through the latest additions to the millions of documents the government has already provided. Early estimates indicate tens of thousands of boxes are in storage at four different Library and Archives Canada locations. “Preliminary estimates identify up to 60,000 boxes of material … requiring review,” says a procurement notice. “A significant portion of these documents are not available in a digitized and searchable format, which is a requirement for the disclosure of documents to the TRC.”
The contract to put the documents into such a format is expected to run until July 2015, when the commission ends.
The commission’s executive director, Kimberly Murray, said she expects documents will still be coming in next summer.
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