ONE IS TO MANY (OMAZINIBII’IGEG)
Current Reality
A key question left unanswered – exactly how many aboriginal children died in residential schools?
Justice Murray Sinclair, who heads the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, says the federal government stopped recording the deaths around 1920 after the chief medical officer at Indian Affairs suggested children were dying at an alarming rate. Sinclair has guessed up to 6,000 children may have died at the schools but it’s impossible to say with certainty. (Global News, May 31, 2015)
https://globalnews.ca/news/2027587/deaths-at-canadas-indian-residential-schools-need-more-study-commission
TABLE: Residential Schools that have discovered unmarked graves
|
Indian Residential School
|
Date of Discovery
|
# of unmarked graves
|
Official recorded deaths
|
First Nation
|
|
Kamloops IRS, BC
|
May 27, 2021
|
200
|
51
|
Tk’emlüps te Secwépemc FN
|
|
Muscowequan IRS, SK
|
June 1, 2021
|
35
|
–
|
Muscowequan First Nation
|
|
Brandon IRS, MB
|
June 10, 2021
|
104
|
78
|
Sioux Valley Dakota First Nation
|
|
Marieval IRS, SK
|
June 25, 2021
|
751
|
8
|
Cowessess First Nation
|
|
St. Eugene’s IRS, BC
|
June 30, 2021
|
182
|
19
|
Ktunaxa Nation, community of Aq’am
|
|
Kuper Island IRS, BC
|
July 13, 2021
|
160
|
120
|
Penelakut First Nation
|
|
St. Joseph’s Mission IRS, BC
|
Jan. 26, 2022
|
93
|
Williams Lake First Nation
|
|
|
Jan. 25, 2023
|
66
|
28
|
||
|
St. Philip’s IRS, SK
|
Feb. 15, 2022
|
12
|
2
|
Keeseekoose First Nation
|
|
Fort Pelly IRS
|
42
|
2
|
||
|
St. Bernard’s IRS, AB
|
Mar. 1, 2022
|
169
|
10
|
Kapawe’no First Nation
|
|
Gordon’s IRS, SK
|
April 21, 2022
|
15
|
49
|
George Gordon First Nation
|
|
Blue Quill IRS, AB
|
May 17, 2022
|
TBD
|
27
|
Saddle Creek Cree Nation
|
|
April 19, 2023
|
19
|
–
|
||
|
Pine Creek IRS, MB
|
Oct. 14, 2022
|
71
|
21
|
Pine Creek First Nation
|
|
Qu’Apelle IRS SK
|
Jan. 12, 2023
|
TBD
|
Star Blanket Cree Nation
|
|
|
St. Mary’s IRS, ON
|
Jan. 17, 2023, Oct. 30, 2023
|
171
22 |
36
|
Wauzhushk Onigum Nation
|
|
St. Augustine IRS, BC
|
April 20, 2023
|
40
|
5
|
shîshålh Nation
|
|
St. Bruno’s IRS,
Joussard IRS |
June 26, 2023
|
88
|
–
|
Driftpile Cree Nation
|
|
Beauval IRS, SK
|
Aug. 29, 2023
|
93
|
–
|
English River First Nation
|
|
Chooutla IRS, YT
|
Sept. 26, 2023
|
15
|
20
|
Carcross, YT
|
|
St. Mary’s IRS, BC
|
Sept. 22, 2023
|
96
|
Sto:lo First Nation
|
|
|
Total:
|
2,444
|
476
|
March 22, 2024 – The International Commission on Missing Persons, based in The Hague, issued an interim report from an international group hired to provide advice on identifying and locating the unmarked graves of children who attended residential schools says Canada should continue funding searches beyond 2025. (See Call to Action # 75 for details)
July 20, 2023: The Senate Standing Committee on Indigenous Peoples released a report “Honouring the Children Who Never Came Home: Truth, Education and Reconciliation”. The report identified the Federal Government, Library and Archives Canada, a number of Roman Catholic entities and the governments of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the Northwest Territories as not complying with Call to Action # 77 and releasing all documents in their possession relating to residential schools.