In response to concerns raised by an Indigenous organisation about potential unmarked graves, a Quebec judge last week halted excavation work on a McGill University project. Today, the judge’s written reasons for that decision were made public.
According to Superior Court Justice Gregory Moore, the Mohawk plaintiffs who brought the action would suffer irreparable harm if the proposed work were allowed to proceed without first taking the time to create an appropriate archaeological plan.
He draws comparisons between health care and residential schools and asserts that finding unmarked Indigenous graves is crucial to learning the truth and advancing reconciliation.
After a two-day hearing, the injunction was approved on Thursday. The Mohawk Mothers, a group of Kahnawake elders, had requested it in March.
The group claims that the bodies of Indigenous patients from the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Allan Memorial Institute are interred at the location that will be constructed.
There was no proof of unmarked graves on the property, according to attorneys for McGill and the Société québécoise des infrastructures, a provincial organisation that funds public infrastructure projects, during the hearing.
A Quebec judge claims that McGill work was stopped to protect the Mohawk plaintiffs from “irreparable harm.”
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