Current Problems: Missing Children and Burial Information (71-76)
Exploring Theme: "Discoveries of unmarked graves"
Updates on this page: 60
April 11, 2024
Ahousaht First Nation releases findings from search for missing residential school children
Likely and potential unmarked grave locations found at schools Jackie McKay · CBC · WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC Indigenous: Posted: Apr 10, 2024 7:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago ʕaaḥuusʔath (Ahousaht) First Nation released the findings from the first phase of its search for missing children who attended two residential schools in...
April 10, 2024
Ahousaht First Nation to release findings from search for missing residential school children
News conference to be held Wednesday afternoon WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC Indigenous: ʕaaḥuusʔath (Ahousaht) First Nation will release the findings from phase one of its search for missing children who attended two residential schools in its territory on Wednesday in Ahousaht, B.C. In a news release Monday, ̣̣ʕaaḥuusʔath said the findings come from ground surveys, archival research and oral...
March 7, 2024
Knowledge event held to share lessons learned in search for unmarked graves at residential schools
“I want to share this with our allies: As well intentioned as you are, it’s important that you work in delicate way on this and know your lane. Don’t become experts of our misery.” —Eugene Arcand Dr. Kisha Supernant, a member of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) on Missing Children and Unmarked Graves in relation...
January 29, 2024
Iqaluit to host national gathering on unmarked graves at residential schools
Three-day conference this week will focus on experiences of Inuit and northern communities Special interlocutor Kimberly Murray will speak this week when Iqaluit hosts the sixth National Gathering on Unmarked Burials from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier) NationTalk: Nunatsiaq News – Unmarked burials and the experiences of Inuit and northern...
January 25, 2024
Cree leaders, scientists to excavate ‘communal grave’ near former Alberta residential school
NationTalk: Daily Guardian – Leaders of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation are planning to unearth a potential mass grave near a former residential school, while accusing the RCMP and medical examiner of negligence and racism. The announcement came after scientists at the International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague, Netherlands, concluded that a skull...
January 24, 2024
Excavation planned at suspected burial site near Blue Quills residential school at Saddle Lake
Investigators say if excavation doesn’t happen soon, animals will continue to disturb the site WARNING: This story contains distressing details CBC Indigenous: A group investigating a suspected communal grave near the site where Blue Quills (Sacred Heart) residential school stood in Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Alberta says it hopes to begin an excavation as early as this summer. Leah Redcrow, CEO...
January 24, 2024
First Nation organization denounces Alta. government, RCMP for lack of assistance in excavating communal grave
Warning: This story contains details that some people may find triggering. If you want to reach out, call the toll-free Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 or connect to the online chat at Hope for Wellness online centre. APTN News: Leah Redcrow, executive director for the Acimowin Opaspiw Society or AOS, says both Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Officer of Health...
January 11, 2024
Statement from Ontario Regional Chief Hare and Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe regarding Ancestors that were uncovered at a Toronto construction site
NationTalk: Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare and Chiefs of Ontario Heritage and Burials Portfolio Holder Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe have released the following statement following the discovery of Ancestors at a construction site in Toronto on January 5th: “Honouring our Ancestors is a foundational component of First Nations worldviews – this includes where they...
January 11, 2024
AMC asks Winnipeg mayor to stop development in area of former cemetery
Property developer offers to set aside controversial area in south Winnipeg suburb of St. Norbert. The front gate of l’Asile Ritchot in the 1930s. Photo courtesy: Société historique de St-Boniface (SHSB) Tellier fonds. Warning: This story contains distressing subject matter. APTN News: The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) is calling for a halt on the potential development...
January 10, 2024
At least 33 Canadian churches have burned to the ground since May 2021. Only 2 were accidents
CBC investigation finds steep rise in church fires since reports of potential graves at residential schools WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: In a barren field of sagebrush alongside a road through the Osoyoos Indian Band, Chief Clarence Louie stands atop a concrete pad and surveys the rubble in front of him. This...
December 1, 2023
Archeologist from Akwesasne says McGill site is not being properly excavated
APTN News: An archeologist from Akwesasne Mohawk Territory is questioning the methods being used to excavate an old hospital site by McGill University and Quebec’s public infrastructure society, or SQI. The site, the old Victoria Hospital, is being excavated and renovated as part of the New Vic Project, a joint venture between McGill and SQI to...
November 21, 2023
Judge orders McGill, SQI to comply with deal on unmarked grave search at former hospital
Request to have excavation of site stopped was denied. The old Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Photo: APTN. APTN News: The Canadian Press – A Quebec judge has ordered McGill University and Quebec’s infrastructure society (SQI), to comply with a deal it reached with a group of Mohawk women that outlines the search for possible...
October 30, 2023
Cadaver dogs searching for unmarked graves at former Kenora residential school site uncover 22 ‘alerts’
The alerts in addition to 171 plausible burial sites detected at former St. Mary’s site in January Warning: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: Wauzhushk Onigum First Nation in northwestern Ontario says cadaver dogs conducting ground searches of a former residential school site have found 22 “alerts” indicating the underground presence of historical human remains....
October 17, 2023
First Nations leaders ask for Brandon campground to be expropriated
First People’s Law Report: Prince Albert Daily Herald– First Nations leaders are asking the federal and provincial governments for financial support to see a private campground expropriated which they suspect contains unmarked graves. But the owner of the campground says he believes the remains of children can be respected and memorialized without shutting his business...
October 14, 2023
After a century in an unnamed grave, an Inuk girl finally gets her name back
After Sara Abraha Uvloriak’s story was published, church held a ceremony for a new gravestone CBC News: More than a century after her death, a young Labrador Inuk girl buried in a cemetery in London’s Chelsea neighbourhood has received a ceremony and a new gravestone. And unlike her first gravestone, this one is engraved with her name: Sara Abraha Uvloriak....
October 2, 2023
Why Residential School Deaths Are Higher than Reported
New findings support the accounts residential school survivors have been sharing for decades. Terri Cardinal recently completed a contract as the Indian residential school co-ordinator with Blue Quills University. This article was originally published in the Conversation. The Tyee: Over the past year I have worked at University nuhelot’įne thaiyots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills, or UnBQ, as the Indian...
September 29, 2023
‘I grieve for the ones that didn’t come home’: St. Anne’s survivor helping to search for unmarked graves
There are plans to search the old St. Anne’s property with ground-penetrating radar this winter WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC Indigenous: Rick Wabano was sitting in his Grade 2 classroom in Moosonee when a priest came in, took him home to pack a bag and then brought him down to the float plane dock....
September 26, 2023
15 ‘potential’ gravesites found near former Yukon residential school
15 possible graves at residential school in Yukon Toronto Star: The Canadian Press – CARCROSS, Yukon – Yukon First Nation elder Sandra Johnson says the discovery of 15 potential graves near the site of a former residential school has “uncovered long-buried wounds.” Johnson spoke Tuesday at the release of an investigation into unmarked graves and...
September 26, 2023
Deciding to dig
Pine Creek First Nation was among the first in Canada to excavate a site with potential unmarked graves — a journey that may provide tough lessons for others weighing the same step. WARNING: This story includes distressing details. CBC News: They emerge from the bowels of an old stone church, two figures clad in white...
September 22, 2023
B.C. First Nation research finds 158 child deaths at four facilities
MISSION, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS The Globe and Mail: The Canadian Press – An investigation into unmarked graves and missing children by British Columbia’s Sto:lo Nation has revealed at least 158 deaths, most of them at a hospital. But representatives from the Sto:lo Nation Chiefs’ Council and Sto:l Research and Resource Management Centre said Thursday...
August 29, 2023
English River First Nation announces more findings in radar search for unmarked graves
Chief Jenny Wolverine says search has found 93 unmarked graves — 79 children and 14 infants WARNING: This article includes distressing details. CBC News: English River First Nation has found what it says are 93 unmarked graves in and around the former Beauval Indian Residential School’s cemetery, 10 more than the community announced in an initial update earlier this...
August 29, 2023
93 possible unmarked graves discovered at former Beauval residential school
‘Schools should come with playgrounds, not graveyards,’ says Saskatchewan chief. Chief Wolverine and Dawn McIntyre speak to media about potential unmarked graves Warning: This story contains information that may be distressing to residential school survivors. APTN News: English River First Nation in Saskatchewan announced Tuesday it has discovered nearly 100 potential unmarked graves at the...
August 21, 2023
Manitoba First Nation considers further excavations after church dig for unmarked graves
No evidence of human remains found under church, but site has other anomalies: chief WARNING: This story includes distressing details. CBC News: A Manitoba First Nation is weighing next steps in its search of a former residential school site after no human remains were found during the excavation of a Catholic church basement. Minegoziibe Anishinabe,...
August 20, 2023
Dogs flown in to search for unmarked graves in Cree territory
‘Going to be a long process,’ says survivor of residential school, helping with search WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: After George E. Pachano left residential school, he swore he would never return. But decades later, the 62-year-old, who was forced to spend four years of his childhood at St. Philip’s Indian Residential...
August 18, 2023
Chief says excavation of Manitoba church basement found no evidence of human remains
No remains found in excavation of church basement The Canada Press: MINEGOZIIBE ANISHINABE – No evidence of human remains has been found during the excavation of a Catholic church basement on the site of a former Manitoba residential school. Chief Derek Nepinak of Minegoziibe Anishinabe shared the results of the four-week excavation in a social...
August 10, 2023
English River First Nation finds potential unmarked graves in, around school cemetery
12 radar findings appear to be consistent with burial of infants, First Nation says WARNING: This article includes distressing details. CBC News: A Saskatchewan First Nation has found what it believes to be dozens of graves in its initial findings from a radar search in and around the cemetery at a former residential school. English River...
August 7, 2023
Sask.-based lawyer welcomes Guatemalan group’s offer to support search for unmarked graves
Group offers to train Indigenous communities on how to excavate graves and recover remains WARNING: This story includes distressing details. CBC News: The Canadian Press – A Guatemala-based forensic anthropology organization is extending its hand to Indigenous Peoples looking to potentially recover remains of children on the grounds of former residential schools in Canada. Fredy Peccerelli,...
August 4, 2023
Mohawk Mothers say McGill University trying to ‘control’ process of search for unmarked graves
Archeological dig at old Montreal hospital on hold after incident with security guard. A pair of shoes located by archeologists in Montreal. APTN News: A spokesperson for the Mohawk Mothers, or Kahnistensera, says the group feels pushed aside in the search for unmarked graves on McGill University grounds. The groups said they feel pushed aside in the...
August 1, 2023
Provinces Failure to Protect Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites of former Indian Residential Schools leaves Children’s Remains At Risk and Affected Families without hope
NationTalk: Provinces Failure to Protect Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites of former Indian Residential Schools leaves Children’s Remains At Risk and Affected Families without hope ‘Our relatives that are buried there are being treated as hostages,’ Chief Hubert Watt Treaty One Territory, Winnipeg, MB –The graves of former residential school children located on private property...
July 21, 2023
Anishinabe nation in Manitoba prepares to excavate 14 anomalies
Minegoziibe Anishinabe suspects there may be unmarked graves underneath Catholic church and site of former residential school A First Nation plans to excavate the basement of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Roman Catholic Church in northwestern Manitoba. Photo courtesy Justin Richard Warning: This story contains details about child abuse and residential schools that may be...
June 29, 2023
Radar search at northern Alberta residential school uncovers 88 suspected graves
Research team recommends further investigation near cemetery grounds WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: Canadian Press – Sucker Creek First Nation Chief Roderick Willier remembers never feeling safe during the decade he spent at a residential school in northern Alberta. “I always had to stay on high alert when I was there,” Willier...
June 29, 2023
Search dogs find signs of human remains on site of Montreal’s old Royal Victoria Hospital
Possible unmarked graves require more security, group known as Mohawk Mothers say CBC News: Cadaver dogs have identified possible evidence of human remains on the grounds of Montreal’s old Royal Victoria Hospital, a sprawling network of now-vacant buildings, some dating back 140 years, on Mount Royal’s southern flank. The search was conducted as part of an agreement between the Kanien’kehá:ka...
June 26, 2023
St. Bruno’s residential school ground-penetrating radar report released
88 potential unmarked graves discovered at St. Bruno’s residential school but more work to be done to confirm It was an emotional weekend for residential school survivors as over 1,000 people joined in from across Treaty 8 at the St. Bruno’s Indian Residential School Gathering as local chiefs and the University of Alberta released a...
June 18, 2023
First Nations in Yukon hope search for unmarked graves of missing children can ‘bring peace’
Ground-penetrating radar being used to collect data from former residential school sites CBC News: Adeline Webber walks up a dirt path to the site where children who attended the former Chooutla Indian Residential School in Carcross, Yukon, once played. “I’m thinking about my brother,” she admits. A brother she never met. Albert Jackson died in 1942,...
April 21, 2023
‘Mohawk Mothers’ reach agreement with McGill to search hospital grounds for unmarked grave
APTN: A group of six women from Kahnawà:ke calling themselves the Mohawk Mothers, or Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera, reached an agreement with McGill University and Quebec’s infrastructure society (SQI) April 20 to find out if there are unmarked graves on the campus. Kwetiio, one of the Kahnistensera, said the agreement is “for the archeology. It’s not for either side. It’s not for people fighting amongst...
April 20, 2023
shíshálh Nation says 40 unmarked graves believed found at residential school site, more are expected
St. Augustine’s Residential School in Sechelt, B.C., operated from 1904 to 1975 CBC News: The shíshálh Nation says ground-penetrating radar has identified what are believed to be 40 unmarked graves of children on or near the site of the former St. Augustine’s Residential School. A statement from the nation on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast says it listened...
April 19, 2023
Search for unmarked graves at Blue Quills finds 19 sites that could be unmarked plots
Ground-penetrating radar search guided by survivor testimonies WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: A search for unmarked graves at the former Blue Quills Residential School in eastern Alberta found 19 sites that contained anomalies consistent with burial plots. The property, located about 150 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, was once a Roman Catholic-run institution....
March 16, 2023
New Survivors Secretariat logo features the apples Mohawk Institute students weren’t allowed to eat
Secretariat hopes that more survivors’ stories will help inform their investigation CBC News: The Survivors’ Secretariat in Six Nations, Ont., has started a new campaign to introduce a logo and increase its social media presence. The Secretariat was established in 2021 to support survivors of the Mohawk Institute, Canada’s longest running residential school. The former residential school in...
February 28, 2023
‘They’re the Ones That are Warriors’
Guided by survivors’ memories, the Tseshaht First Nation is uncovering horrific truths about Alberni Indian Residential School. [Editor’s note: This story discusses deaths of children in Indian residential schools. It may be triggering to some readers.] HELP IS AVAILABLE If you need support, call the Indian Residential School Survivors Society at 1-800-721-0066 or 1-866-925-4419 for...
February 21, 2023
Suspected grave sites, children’s deaths found in probe of B.C. residential school
Ground-penetrating radar has detected 17 suspected grave sites around the former Alberni Indian Residential School. The Toronto Star: PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – A Vancouver Island First Nation has announced the detection of 17 suspected unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school, in an emotional event that combined science and ceremony on Tuesday. ...
February 18, 2023
NDP MP calls for hate speech law to combat residential school ‘denialism’
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller interested in reviewing proposed bill WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: Some Indigenous academics and activists say they’ve become the targets of a growing backlash against reports of hundreds of unmarked graves at former residential school sites — and they want Parliament to do something about it. They...
January 25, 2023
66 more potential burial sites discovered at former B.C. residential school
Williams Lake First Nations has revealed the results of phase 2 of its search WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: The lead investigator for a B.C. First Nations has announced its ongoing probe has revealed at least 28 children died on the grounds of a former residential school and identified 66 more potential burial sites. Whitney Spearing,...
January 24, 2023
Tainted milk led to deaths of Alberta residential school children, group says
First Nation group intends to excavate what it believes to be a mass grave WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing. CBC News: A new report suggests tainted, unpasteurized milk was responsible for the deaths of many First Nations children at an Alberta residential school. The conclusion comes from a preliminary report...
January 17, 2023
‘A tragic first for Ontario’: 171 plausible burials found at Kenora residential school site
A survivors group is investigating the site of the St. Mary’s Indian Residential School, which operated under different names from 1897 to 1972. Article was updated 10 hrs ago Toronto Star: A survivors group that has been investigating the site of the former St. Mary’s Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont., says ground-penetrating radar has...
January 12, 2023
Ground search at Sask. First Nation gets 2,000 ‘hits,’ more work required to determine which are graves
Star Blanket Cree Nation will now begin core sampling and DNA tests Warning: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: Ground penetrating radar searches at the site of the former Lebret Indian Industrial School found more than 2,000 “hits” over the past year, the man leading the search for Star Blanket Cree Nation announced Thursday. The...
January 12, 2023
Radar search finds more than 2,000 anomalies at Saskatchewan residential school site
More work needs to be done to determine what exactly the ground-penetrating radar has found at the former Lebret Indian Industrial School site. Toronto Star: A Saskatchewan First Nation says a ground-penetrating radar search at a former residential school has revealed more than 2,000 anomalies, while a physical search also found what is believed to...
October 14, 2022
RCMP investigate after search of western Manitoba residential school site discovers possible unmarked graves
Minegoziibe Anishinabe, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, learned of ground anomalies this summer CBC News · Posted: Oct 14, 2022 11:50 AM CT | Last Updated: October 14 WARNING: This story contains distressing details. RCMP are investigating the site of a former residential school in western Manitoba after ground-penetrating radar searches this summer revealed anomalies...
May 17, 2022
Human remains found near Alberta residential school site likely children, First Nation says
CBC: A First Nation in Alberta says new archival work has helped explain numerous discoveries of human remains that it now believes are the unmarked graves of residential school students. Saddle Lake Cree Nation revealed on Tuesday that since 2004, there have been numerous discoveries of partial remains that were accidentally excavated while new graves were being dug...
April 21, 2022
Gordon’s Indian Residential School
George Gordon First Nation Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism: Officials with the George Gordon First Nation released details of possible burials found at the former Gordon’s Indian Residential School on Wednesday afternoon. The search began with four areas of interest identified last fall, and through Ground Penetrating Radar 14 possible burial sites were located. “In upcoming months,...
March 1, 2022
Grouard IRS (St. Bernard’s IRS)
Grouard IRS (AKA – St. Bernard’s IRS – The Kapawe’no First Nation in northern Alberta announced the discovery of 169 potential unmarked graves on the former grounds of the St. Bernard’s IRS...
March 1, 2022
St. Bernard’s IRS (Grouard Mission)
Globe and Mail – The Kapawe’no First Nation in northern Alberta announced on Tuesday the discovery of 169 potential unmarked graves on the former grounds of the St. Bernard’s Indian Residential School (1894-1961), another in a growing number of school burial sites. Kapawe’no First Nation, located near High Prairie, about 350 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, worked...
February 15, 2022
Fort Pelly IRS and St. Philip’s IRS
Toronto Star – The discovery of 54 potential graves of children forced to attend two residential schools on Keeseekoose First Nation land was announced to a silent gathering of community members and media… Meanwhile, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said the Catholic Church, and others who ran the school, must...
February 15, 2022
Keeseekoose First Nation
Fort Pelly Residential School and St. Philip’s Residential School Feb. 15, 2022: Toronto Star – The discovery of 54 potential graves of children forced to attend two residential schools on Keeseekoose First Nation land was announced to a silent gathering of community members and media… Meanwhile, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations...
January 26, 2022
St. Josephs’ Mission Residential School
William Lake First Nation Toronto Star – Chief Willie Sellars of the William Lake First Nation delivered preliminary results from the first phase of an investigation into St. Josephs’ Mission Residential School. 93 potential human burials have been found in an area near a historic cemetery at the school site. Current data suggest that 50...
September 30, 2021
Marievale Indian Residential School
Cowessess First Nation Toronto Star – Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme announced the discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former Marievale Indian Residential School in southeastern Saskatchewan “which operated from 1898 until 1997, and was run by the Catholic Church for most of its history”. “We will find more bodies...
July 13, 2021
Kuper Island Indian Residential School
Penelakut First Nation Toronto Star – Penelakut Tribe Chief Joan Brown “has told surrounding First Nations that it has found the unmarked graves of 160 or more people on the grounds of the former residential school”. Kuper Island School on Penelakut Island was operated by the Catholic Church until 1969. Outbreaks of deadly disease were...
June 30, 2021
St. Eugene Mission School
Ktunaxa Nation, community of Aq’am Toronto Star – Chief Jason Louie of The Lower Kootenay Band announced that they had discovered “182 sets of human remains in unmarked graves…flagged near the location of a former residential school – St. Eugene Mission School – in Cranbrook, B.C…from the member bands of Ktunaxa nation, and neighbouring First...
June 26, 2021
Marievale Indian Residential School
Cowessess First Nation Toronto Star – Chief Cadmus Delorme said the First Nation has since identified about 300 unmarked graves. Not all were believed to belong to children. Catholic Church parishioners are thought to have been buried there, as well as members of neighbouring communities. The First Nation worked with historical records from the Roman...
June 1, 2021
Muskowekwan Indian Residential School
CTV News – In 2018 and 2019, the First Nation worked with the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta to use ground-penetrating radar to find unmarked or unidentified graves of children who attended the school. Through that process, along with water line construction done in the 1990’s, the First Nation has identified at...
August 28, 2018
Brandon Indian Residential School
The unmarked graves of 51 children who died at the Brandon Indian Residential School are physically located on a Recreational Vehicle (RV) campsite that now owns the former school property. Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) wants the city of Brandon to protect the unmarked graves that are now part...
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