The federal government is backtracking on a move to limit funding for searches of former residential school grounds.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said in a statement Friday the government has heard concerns from Indigenous leaders and communities 鈥渓oud and clear.鈥�

Communities could previously receive up to $3 million per year through the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund, but the government had moved to cap funding at $500,000.

Anandasangaree said the government will now lift that cap and remove planned restrictions on the funding, which goes toward locating burial sites at former residential schools and identifying children who never returned.

The recent changes, he said, 鈥渇ell short of our solemn commitment to finding the children.鈥�

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs was among the groups that had decried the change, with deputy grand chief Betsy Kennedy calling the decision 鈥渘ot only disheartening but also disrespectful to the survivors and families affected by the residential school system.鈥�

Anandasangaree said in the statement Friday the government鈥檚 intention was to fund as many initiatives as possible but it made a mistake in not being flexible enough. 鈥淐ommunities know best what is needed to undertake this important work, on their own terms,鈥� he said.

That fund was created in the wake of Tk鈥檈mlups te Secw茅pemc First Nation鈥檚 report in 2021 about 215 anomalies found on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., reinvigorating the national conversation about the history and legacy of residential schools.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press