Tragedy spurred calls for change. What happens now?

OTTAWA—The sun shone brightly on Parliament Hill Monday as millions of Canadians headed to the polls to choose the seat of government’s next occupants.

And over the Peace Tower still, a reminder of a time when government decisions had fatal consequences for First Nations.

The Canadian flag remains at half mast to honour the memories of children who died at residential schools, a story that has been known to their families for decades but that seems to shake the country to its core when previously unmarked graves began to be revealed in May.

Since then, the graves of more than 1,300 children who died at the schools have been recovered, and the search is underway for more.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) initially suggested that about 4,100 children died at the schools, but they didn’t have the records to confirm a final tally.

The issue tore at the country’s conscience for weeks and pressure seemed to build for governments to work faster and fulfill all the Truth and Reconciliation calls to action to address the legacy of the schools.

The pressure never quite erupted onto the federal election trail outright, though there was room for it to affect some outcomes: First Nations voters alone could make the difference in at least 24 ridings, according to a list released by the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) last month.

Among them are some of the tightest races in the country, including the riding of Port Moody-Coquitlam in B.C.’s Lower Mainland.

Meanwhile, the AFN says 50 Indigenous candidates registered for this election, representing 24 First Nations.

Four national parties — the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and People’s Party — are fielding at least one Indigenous candidate.

Of the leaders, the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh most often used his campaign’s platform to call attention to the ongoing impact of residential schools.

At the start of the campaign and then again toward the end, he visited communities living decades later with the fall out, and also took his campaign to reserves still under drinking water advisories.

That Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s failure to end those outright by March of this year — as he’d promised to do in 2015 — has been one of Singh’s talking points throughout the campaign as a reason progressive voters simply cannot trust him with government again.

Trudeau has accused Singh of fostering cynicism on that score, and even mid-campaign his government was announcing the lifting of boil-water advisories as proof the work remained underway.

As they’ve done with many issues throughout the election, the Conservatives sought to use this campaign to rebrand their party on Indigenous issues, though on the TRC calls to action, their platform only refers to those related to children’s graves on reserves.

AFN National Chief Rose-Anne Archibald said late last month the reality, regardless of the election’s outcome, is Canadians are broadly now more supportive of Indigenous issues than ever before.

“Strengthening and rebuilding First Nations will result in a strong, fair and better Canada for all of us.”

“Strengthening and rebuilding First Nations will result in a strong, fair and better Canada for all of us.” ROSEANNE ARCHIBALD AFN NATIONAL CHIEF