{"id":654217,"date":"2026-05-07T18:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/654217\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T18:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T18:02:11","slug":"5-years-after-quebec-law-129-indigenous-families-still-need-answers-on-missing-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/654217\/","title":{"rendered":"5 years after Quebec law, 129 Indigenous families still need answers on missing children"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, Pierre-Paul Niquay wondered if his two older brothers could still be alive and living somewhere in Quebec.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two of his siblings, Joseph Jean Antonio Niquay and Paul-\u00c9mile Niquay, were taken from their community of Wemotaci and admitted to a hospital in La Tuque, Que., \u2014 115 kilometres away \u2014 after experiencing a health issue as toddlers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were never seen again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Niquay\u2019s parents were informed shortly after their admission to the hospital that they had consumed spoiled milk and died as a result.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a story that doesn\u2019t add up,\u201d Niquay said in a recent interview.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After decades of trying to find answers on their own, his family became one of more than 100 Indigenous families to request medical records through a Quebec law adopted in June of 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The law, known at the time as Bill 79, allows Indigenous families to access the medical records of their loved ones who went missing or who died in health-care facilities in Quebec before the end of 1992.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to a recent government report, 129 Indigenous families have started the process of searching for 221 missing children since the law came into effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only 21 of those files have since been closed \u2014 ten of them in the past year. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Quebec’s Indigenous affairs ministry\u2019s department of family support, as well as an Indigenous-led organization called Awacak, have been tasked with helping the families access the records and supporting them as they take next steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we search, we search with our hearts,\u201d said Fran\u00e7oise Ruperthouse, general manager of Awacak. \u201cWe try to find answers because I know what it does when we search and we don\u2019t find them. It hurts so badly. We are always in waiting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The struggle to repatriate remains<\/p>\n

Ruperthouse lost two of her siblings<\/a> in the health-care system herself, and worked for years to help her mother find information about them, long before this law came into place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ruperthouse was eventually able to reconnect with her sister in a health-care facility in\u00a0Baie-Saint-Paul, Que., but by that point her health had deteriorated and she died in 2000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there had been a law while we were searching or before, I think we would have found my sister, we would have found my brother,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we would have gotten the chance to live with them a little.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2021, families of missing children gathered on Atikamekw territory. (Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n

For a lot of families, Ruperthouse says, accessing the medical records is just the start of a long path to healing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Niquay\u2019s case, his family was able to use the documents to find out his brothers\u2019 cause of death as well as the approximate location of their unmarked graves \u2014 a cemetery his family was eventually able to visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cTears were shed because the site had not been maintained at all,\u201d he said. \u201cThe idea of a burial without witnesses \u2026 [We wondered] whether they were buried with dignity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Niquay, the moment only brought partial closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are limits on what [the law] can bring. If we ask for the body to be exhumed, they will tell us it\u2019s impossible,\u201d he said, explaining no one can pinpoint the precise location of the remains in the mass grave.<\/p>\n

Norman A. Wapachee, from the Cree community of Ouj\u00e9-Bougoumou, has been working with a cemetery in Mashteuiatsh, near Saguenay, Que.,\u00a0to try to find a way to repatriate the remains of his sister, Hattie. <\/p>\n

His family lost her after she was hospitalized in Roberval, Que., when she was less than a year old. <\/p>\n

LISTEN | Hear from the families affected by the law:<\/p>\n

Quebec AM9:555 years after Quebec law, 129 Indigenous families still need answers on missing children<\/p>\n

It’s been nearly five years since the Quebec government adopted a law aimed at helping Indigenous families find their loved ones who went missing in the medical system. While the piece of legislation has helped to bring closure to some families, others say it falls short. CBC journalist Franca Mignacca sat down with some of the people who used the law to find their missing siblings.<\/p>\n

Her parents were never able to see their infant’s body and she, like so many, was also buried in an unmarked grave, making it impossible for Wapachee to bring her remains home. <\/p>\n

“I made a cross and my dad helped me varnish it, but when we went up we didn\u2019t know where to put it,” he said.<\/p>\n

Provincial limits<\/p>\n

Reg Nepinak, who lives in Fork River, Man., also struggles with the fact he was never able to bring his sister \u2019s body home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His sister, Marlene Charlette, was born with spina bifida at the end of the 1950s and when she was around nine years old, his parents were told by health authorities that she could no longer be cared for at home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was admitted to a health-care facility at the other end of the country, in Austin, located in southern Quebec, and they never saw her again. She died sometime around her 14th birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t get notification of her death until four days after she had passed away and she had already been buried,\u201d said Nepinak, who is Anishinaabe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AReg Nepinak struggles with the fact he was never able to bring his sister\u2019s body home. (Chelsea Kemp\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Through Quebec\u2019s law, Nepinak eventually got some of the answers he\u2019s been seeking, but he only has access to the medical records from the time she was in the province, leaving him with missing pieces of the puzzle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He and his sisters were eventually able to find the approximate site of her unmarked grave, but not knowing exactly where she was, they were forced to leave her body there \u2014 in a cemetery in Magog, Que., far from home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sisters and I started this with the intent of having her body exhumed and brought back to Manitoba and put with mom and dad,” Nepinak said. “[But] the cemetery agreed to put up a plaque with her name on it, and being we\u2019re a traditional people we did a ceremony at the site and we brought her soul home.” <\/p>\n

Not being able to access records across Canada left many Indigenous families in Quebec in limbo, Ruperthouse says.<\/p>\n

\"AThe Minister Responsible for Relations with the First Nations and the Inuit, Ian Lafreni\u00e8re, says he’s committed to making sure these families get answers. (Sylvain Roy Roussel\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Many Indigenous children in Quebec were admitted to hospitals in other provinces, such as in Ontario,\u00a0meaning\u00a0Awacak cannot access those records or give families answers. <\/p>\n

“A national law would have done so much good for so many families,” said Ruperthouse. “Because there are so many families. It isn’t just in Quebec.” <\/p>\n

In a statement to CBC News, Indigenous Services Canada\u00a0says health data and hospital records fall under provincial jurisdiction. <\/p>\n

Ontario’s Indigenous affairs ministry did not respond to CBC’s request for comment. <\/p>\n

‘Very dark side’ of Quebec’s history, says minister <\/p>\n

Ruperthouse also believes the law should be expanded to include medical records after 1992. Her organization has been forced to turn down some families because of that time limit.<\/p>\n

“After 1992, things still happened and there are a lot of children who disappeared and who we don\u2019t know where they are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But the law has also brought hope and answers for many, she says. Since it was adopted, four families have been able to bring the bodies of their lost children home. <\/p>\n

And earlier this month, a fifth family in Manawan, an Atikamekw community, was given permission from the court to repatriate their loved one’s body. <\/p>\n

Ian Lafreni\u00e8re, minister responsible for relations with First Nations and Inuit, said in an interview with CBC in April, that he is committed to ensuring this law continues to be applied and to supporting the families carrying out their searches. <\/p>\n

“This is a very dark side of the Quebec history,” said Lafreni\u00e8re. “Most Quebecers don’t know about it and one of the challenges we have is to maintain that knowledge.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, Pierre-Paul Niquay wondered if his two older brothers could still be alive and living somewhere in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-654217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}