Canada: Indigenous community finds 93 unmarked graves | Indigenous Rights News

Warning: The story below contains details of residential schools that may be of concern. The Canadian Residence School Survivors and Family Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

Canada – An indigenous community in western British Columbia, Canada, has found dozens of unmarked graves in a former residential school, such a recent discovery last year.

Williams Lake First Nation reported Monday that the first results of the first phase of a geophysical search at St Joseph Mission Residential School found 93 “reflections” believed to be unmarked graves.

“Our number is ninety-three,” Chief Willie Sellars told reporters.

Hundreds of unmarked graves have been found in the first residential school sites across Canada since May by Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation. announced he found 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

This finding prompted widespread calls for justice and accountability for victims and survivors of violent assimilation organizations, as well as what the Canadian government demanded. released all records pertaining to facilities.

Canada had to attend more than 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis children in residential schools from the late 1800s to the 1990s. Children were deprived of their language and culture, separated from their siblings, and suffered psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. Thousands of churches are believed to have been killed as a result of various church-going institutions, most notably the Roman Catholic Church.

A federal commission of inquiry into institutions, known as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), concluded in 2015 that the Canadian residential school system was a “cultural genocide”.

Dissemination reports released

Thousands of First Lake Williams children, as well as other indigenous communities, had to move to San Jose, and operated as a residential school from 1891 to 1981.

“In February 1902, three children escaped from school and one child died as a result of exposure and fatigue. An investigation into the death revealed physical abuse and poor school conditions, including excessive punishment for students and forced eating of rotten food, “the TRC wrote in a 2004 report.PDF) about the conditions of the organization.

Williams Lake First Nation began its research at St Joseph Mission Residential School in May following the announcement of Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation.

The researchers used a variety of geophysical techniques in their search, including radar to penetrate the earth, said Whitney Spearing, who led the community’s probe. Spearing said they have surveyed about 470 acres (1161 acres) so far.

“So far, 93 reflections have been received at the San Jose Mission. All of them show different characteristics that are indicative of possible human graves, ”Spearing told reporters, and investigators believe 50 of the potential burial sites are unrelated to a historic cemetery in the school grounds.

‘Not forgetting footnotes’

Earlier this month, the Canadian federal government announced $ 1.5 million ($ 1.9 million Canadian funding) for the 2021-2022 financial year to help investigate burial sites associated with the former Williams Lake First Nation residential school.

“In addition, work will begin to help bring together the Elderly and the Alive, share conversations and share knowledge about unmarked graves, and gather, plan and organize cultural events in their community. This community-led process will ensure Williams Lake First Nation does its job and that it can do it at its own pace, ”the Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, the federal ministry, said in a statement.

Last month, Ottawa too he said it would release thousands of records related to the residential school system.

On January 20, the government he said he reached an agreement with the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), a research center working at the University of Central Manitoba in Canada, on “how and when Canada will share historical documents.”

The remains of 215 children, some three years old, were found in May at the site of Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia. [File: Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters]

“Today’s agreement is another step in the path set by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission six years ago,” Stephanie Scott, NCTR’s chief executive, said in an hour-long note. “Through these records, we hope to find more truth on behalf of the survivors, their families and communities.”

Sells, head of Williams Lake First Nation, echoed Tuesday, saying “a true account must be told of the alumni residence school experience” before any reconciliation can take place in Canada.

He said survivors had told stories of “systematic torture, starvation, rape and sexual assault against children” in St Joseph and that “the trauma of individuals and communities is still very much present.”

The intergenerational trauma associated with St. Joseph and other residential schools continues to be felt by indigenous people across the country, Sells added. “The abuses suffered by the San Jose Mission and other organizations have not forgotten the footnotes of the past. The horrors that happened inside [the] The walls of the San Jose Mission are very real for those who are still living. ”