A woman looks over orange shirts, shoes, flowers and messages displayed on the steps outside the legislature in Victoria on Tuesday, June 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
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CRANBROOK, B.C. The Lower Kootenay Band in British Columbia s southern Interior says a search using ground-penetrating radar has found the remains of 182 people in unmarked graves at a site close to a former residential school.
It says the community of aq am began using the technology last year to search a site near Cranbrook that s close to the former St. Eugene s Mission School.
The band said in a news release Wednesday that the search found the remains in unmarked graves, some as shallow as 90 centimetres to 1.2 metres. It s believed the remains are those of people from Ktunaxa nations, including aq am and the Lower Kootenay Band, as well as other neighbouring First Nations.
B.C. nations say 182 unmarked graves found in cemetery near former residential school
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By The Canadian Press on June 30, 2021.
A woman looks over orange shirts, shoes, flowers and messages displayed on the steps outside the legislature in Victoria on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 following a ceremony in honour of the 215 residential school children whose remains were detected near a former residential school at Kamloops, B.C. The Lower Kootenay Band in B.C. s southern Interior says a search using ground-penetrating radar has also found the remains of 182 people in unmarked graves at another residential school site.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
“It’s pretty emotional,” he said. “Particularly for survivors of residential schools.” Since the gravesites of the missing children were located in Kamloops last month, Tseshaht First Nation elected chief Ken Watts said he’s received at least one call every day from survivors with leads to potential sites. After consulting with hereditary chiefs, residential school survivors, council and staff, the nation applied to Ottawa, requesting some of the $27-million federal funding being made available to help communities locate children who died at residential schools. There are 139 recognized residential schools in Canada. If the $27 million was distributed equally among them all, Tseshaht would receive less than $200,000.
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In a news release, the province says the funding will help First Nations identify, investigate, document, maintain, protect or commemorate residential school sites where children s remains may be located.
It says the province, the federal government and B.C. s First Nations Health Authority are working with a number of nations that have requested assistance in determining the next steps for removing structures and searching other sites.
It says those nations include the Tk emlúps te Secwépemc, whose leadership announced the finding in Kamloops last month, and the Daylu Dena Council in Lower Post, where a former residential school is slated for demolition.