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court of appeal reverses order on unmarked grave search at old royal victoria site
work on mcgill university expansion had been suspended because mohawk mothers believe indigenous children may be buried at the former hospital site.
aug 16 2024
2 minute read
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the quebec court of appeal has reversed a decision made in november that ordered mcgill university to comply with a deal it reached with a group of indigenous women outlining the search for possible unmarked graves at the site of the former royal victoria hospital.
“the court (of appeal) is of the view that the judge’s order is not enforceable,” the panel of three judges wrote in a decision delivered friday afternoon.
they were referring to a decision made on nov. 20, 2023, by superior court justice gregory moore ordering the mcgill university and the société québecoise des infrastructures (sqi) abide by an agreement it reached with the indigenous women earlier in 2023.
“following the relocation of the royal victoria hospital’s operations in 2015, the sqi undertook major work to repurpose the site of the former hospital and of the former allan memorial institute,” the appellate court wrote in a short chronology of what led to the agreement. “the respondents are indigenous individuals from the mohawk nation. they suspect that the site may contain the graves of indigenous children who succumbed to dr. ewen cameron’s treatments carried out within the scope of the cia’s project mk-ultra, from 1954 to 1963. in march 2022, they sued (mcgill and sqi and other parties).”
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on oct. 27, 2022, moore granted an injunction in the lawsuit and ordered mcgill and sqi suspend excavation of the site until the parties agreed on how archeological investigations be conducted. months later, an agreement was reached but, on june 29, 2023, during a case-management hearing, the indigenous women “expressed their dissatisfaction with the implementation of the agreement.”
the mohawk mothers argued mcgill and the province’s infrastructure agency failed to properly involve the panel of archeologists appointed to oversee the search for graves at the site of a future downtown campus expansion.
the expert panel was a key element of a deal struck in april 2023 between the developers and the indigenous women, who had sought to halt construction over fears it could desecrate human remains.
moore rejected mcgill’s argument the panel’s mandate ended in july 2023, and ordered the school and the infrastructure agency to abide by the panel’s recommendations on how the search should proceed.
“in reality, the judge’s ruling goes well beyond a case-management measure. faced with an application resulting from a dispute between the parties on the scope of the panel’s role, he interpreted the agreement and ordered (mcgill and sqi) to comply therewith. in doing so, he decided the parties’ rights under the agreement,” the court of appeal wrote.
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“the judge misapprehended the scope of his power to make safeguard orders. under the guise of a case-management measure, he decided the parties’ rights under the agreement and appropriated the power to supervise the application of the agreement without a genuine debate on the merits.”
the canadian press contributed to this report.
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