Moccasins line the wall behind seven international judges from the Permanent People’s Tribunal, hearing evidence at the daphne art centre in Montreal.

In front of them, two chairs draped with a blanket hold small red wrapped bundles and two small plates of food.

“The chairs are to recognize those disappeared children that never came home,” said Christa Big Canoe, an Anishinaabe lawyer and the lead prosecutor for the tribunal.

On Monday, the tribunal began a week-long investigation into missing Indigenous children and unmarked burials associated with residential schools.