The Supreme Court won’t hear the Mohawk Mothers’ appeal regarding unmarked graves at McGill’s construction site in Montreal
Montreal: The Supreme Court of Canada has decided not to hear an appeal from the Mohawk Mothers. They were looking for more control over a construction site at McGill University.
This site is where they believe there are unmarked graves of Indigenous children. The court didn’t provide any reasons for its decision, which is pretty standard.
The Mohawk Mothers claim that there are bodies of Indigenous patients buried near the old Royal Victoria Hospital, which McGill is currently renovating.
Back in 2022, they took legal action against McGill and the provincial infrastructure body. They even got a temporary halt on the university’s expansion plans.
After that, they reached an agreement in 2023 for a team of archaeologists to oversee the renovations and check for graves.
But things got messy, and the Mothers had to go back to court. In November 2023, they secured an order to make sure everyone stuck to the agreement.
However, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned that order in August 2024, saying the agreement was unclear and couldn’t be enforced. This led the Mohawk group to appeal to the Supreme Court.
This news was first reported by The Canadian Press on January 16, 2025.
