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 Nation communities”. The former school, which was operated from 1912 to the 70s by the Roman Catholic Church is now St. Eugene Golf Resort and Casino after the school was handed back to the five bands after the school closed.

The community of Aq’am conducted a search of the schoolgrounds using ground-penetrating radar in 2020 and they are still in the early stages of interpreting the reports from those searches. Aq’am released its own statement Wednesday acknowledging that it had conducted the search in 2020 in what is now the aq’am community cemetery — but stressed that it is difficult for them to determine whether this was a site where residential schoolchildren were buried.

“The community of ʔaq̓ am remains steadfast in its responsibility as caretakers of the ʔaq̓ am Cemetery and to those who eternally rest within. Further ground penetrating radar work will be done on the site.”