Actions and Commitments: Call to Action # 75
Exploring Theme: "Discoveries of unmarked graves"
Updates on this page: 19
June 3, 2024
First Nation in B.C. plans dig for remains at ex-school, signs deal with RCMP, province
APTN News: The British Columbia government says the Williams Lake First Nation is planning to excavate the site of a former residential school to recover possible human remains and has signed an agreement with the province and RCMP to help guide the process. The Ministry of Indigenous Relations says the memorandum of understanding is the...
September 5, 2023
B.C. helps Williams Lake First Nation buy land at former residential school site
A cemetery and an abandoned building are seen on the former grounds of St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, in Williams Lake, B.C., on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Listen to article Canada’s National Observer: WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — A former British Columbia residential school site being investigated as a possible location of unmarked...
June 4, 2023
Manitoba First Nation and Colombian researchers discuss ‘forensics of care’ in their work on unmarked graves
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation exchanges knowledge with committee for Colombian massacre victims WARNING: This story contains distressing details. CBC News: A southwestern Manitoba First Nation connected with visitors from Colombia this weekend to better inform its ongoing research into unmarked graves at a former residential school. Sioux Valley Dakota Nation hosted delegates from the Committee for the Rights of...
January 17, 2022
Kamloops Residential School
Jan. 17, 2022: CBC – The leadership of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc hopes to identify and locate missing children believed to be buried in unmarked graves. The federal government plans to transfer more than 875,000 records through a recently signed agreement with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), the archival repository for all of the material collected by the...
November 18, 2021
Ahousaht and Christie IRS
Times-Colonist – Ahousaht First Nation is taking its first steps toward searching the grounds of two former residential schools on its territory for human remains. Some buildings of the former school remain on the site, now known as Maatsquiaht, as well as newer buildings. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation found 13 recorded deaths...
November 4, 2021
Lebret IRS
CBC – Star Blanket Cree Nation begins ground-penetrating radar searches at site of Lebret IRS that could take up to 3 years to complete. The school closed its doors in 1998 making it one of the last IRS. More than 55 acres on the reserve will need to be examined. Star Blanket has been able...
October 18, 2021
Red Deer IRS
Ground-penetrating radar work begins as part of larger collaboration across Alberta agreed upon by nine First Nations groups....
August 17, 2021
Grouard Indian Residential School
Kapawe’no First Nation welcomed a team from the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology at the University of Alberta to assess the site of the Grouard Residential School Aug. 10 to 12. Located nearly 400 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, the school operated from 1894 to 1957. By 1949, Métis students accounted for half of the...
August 10, 2021
St. Paul’s IRS – 60+ unmarked graves
The Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) announce an Indigenous-led initiative, on behalf of its people and in partnership with its relatives the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, to find answers about the children who attended the former St. Paul’s Indian Residential School (1899-1959) but never made it home. According to public records, 12 unidentified students...
August 4, 2021
Shubenacadie school
Aug. 4, 2021: CBC – The team of researchers searching for evidence of unmarked graves at the former Shubenacadie Residential School in Shubenacadie, N.S., has concluded its search without finding graves connected to the institution....
July 28, 2021
Fort Alexander IRS
Toronto Star – RCMP have been conducting a “large-scale, years long criminal investigation into sexual abuse allegations” beginning in 2010. The school operated from 1905 until 1970 under the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate who also ran all the other residential schools where unmarked graves were discovered....
July 13, 2021
Kuper Island IRS – 160+ unmarked graves
Kuper Island School on Penelakut Island was operated by the Catholic Church until 1969. Indigenous children from up and down the B.C. coast were sent there, and its remote locations earned it the nickname of “Canada’s Alcatraz”. Archaeological research there began in 2014 as part of the TRC’s work on missing children. After the TRC...
July 12, 2021
Sacred Heart Residential School
APTN – Fort Providence used ground-penetrating radar in ’90s to locate cemetery containing 300 bodies, of which 161 were kids who attended Sacred Heart Residential School in Zhahti Kue, also known as Fort Providence, N.W.T....
June 20, 2021
St. Eugene’s IRS – 182 unmarked graves
St. Eugene’s IRS operated from 1890 to 1970 with children from member bands of Ktunaxa nation, and neighbouring First Nation communities”. 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...
June 1, 2021
Shubenacadie school
June 1, 2021: CTV News – There is an official list of 16 students who died while attending the Shubenacadie school, but Bernard said survivors have come forward in the past three years to provide the names of more missing children....
May 28, 2021
Kamloops IRS – 200 unmarked graves
Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation – National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at UBC – NCTR and IRSHDC re calling on the federal government to work in collaboration with residential school Survivors and Indigenous governments to establish a national framework for investigation and protection...
October 13, 2019
Red Deer Indian Industrial School
Founded in 1892, considered one of the most atrocious examples of the suffering, abuse and neglect rampant in the Canada’s residential school system, the school operated until 1918. The school was plagued by widespread disease, a defective sanitation system that led to further contamination and illness, overcrowding and one of the highest mortality rates of...
February 5, 2019
Muskowekwan Residential School
University of Alberta – A Métis archeologist at the University of Alberta working with the Muskowekwan First Nation in Saskatchewan may have discovered graves of missing children from the nearby residential school that closed in 1997. “In the records there were 35 children who were unaccounted for, that disappear off the records, and nobody quite...
August 14, 2018
Regina Indian Industrial School (RIIS)
A monument to commemorate and honour those who died while attending the Regina Indian Industrial School (RIIS) over 100 years ago was unveiled today. “This plaque is a permanent feature to commemorate the children who passed while attending the school, and acknowledges the impact residential schools had on Saskatchewan peoples and communities.” Confirmed Graves 35...
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