St. Joseph’s Residential School operated between 1915 and 1969
Warning: This story discusses residential schools.
APTN News: A First Nation in northern Manitoba is dealing with the discovery of 187 underground anomalies that may be the remains of children who died while attending residential school.
David Monias, chief of Cross Lake Band/Pimicikamak Cree Nation, made the announcement in the community about 800 km north of Winnipeg streamed live online.
“For us, it’s quite shocking to hear that,” Monias told the event attended by survivors of St. Joseph’s Residential School and community elders. “You wonder how many missing children are there?”
Project coordinator Sandy Robinson said 1,240 Indigenous children from 24 communities in the region were forced to attend St. Joseph’s, also known as Cross Lake Indian Residential School.
They were some of the estimated 150,000 Indigenous children separated from their families and sent to more than 130 residential schools across Canada between 1831 and 1996.
The residential school system was devised and funded by the federal government and operated by churches. Survivors of the schools have said they were mentally, physically and sexually abused.
Just over 4,100 children died at the schools, according to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In Manitoba, the commission says at least 338 children died there or within a year of leaving their schools.
“It is important to remember that parents were often not informed that their children had died of illnesses, accidents or by other reasons,” said Robinson of Cross Lake. “(School officials) did not bother to waste a stamp to get a notice delivered.
Leaving communities like Cross Lake, “cleaning up the mess.”
Monias said three searches were conducted at different times in 2022 and 2o23 by a team using ground-penetrating radar. He said several areas were searched, including the grounds of the former school run by the Catholic Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
The chief, wearing an orange ribbon shirt and eagle feather headdress, said Cross Lake had identified 85 missing children prior to initiating the search, but now has more questions.
“We had to not only search the ground but we also had to search documents … and unfortunately, there’s many we could not account for.”
He said the communities will seek input from the International Commission on Missing Persons – an internationally recognized organization with expertise in repatriation – based in Europe.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, whose members helped separate children from their families and deliver them to schools, are not involved, he added.
“We need an independent, unbiased body to come and help with the searches,” Monias said. “We know that there is anomalies … but we don’t really know who they are, whose family they belong to, where their community is.”
Manitoba had 19 residential schools, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, which documents and archives residential school records.
Cross Lake has received $2.1 million from the federal government for archival research, statement gathering, commemoration and fieldwork investigation. Ottawa earmarked $27 million for such searches after the shocking discovery of 215 anomalies at the site of the former Kamloops Residential School in B.C. in 2021.
Monias noted that ground-penetrating radar picked up “thousands and thousands of anomalies” that were eventually whittled down to 187 rectangular anomalies “one metre to two metres” in size that resembled child-sized graves.
“In response to these findings, the Nation will conduct ceremonies … to honour those who may be buried and those who never returned to help their souls find peace in the spirit world,” he said.
“Each anomaly/unmarked grave represents a life and a story that was unjustly silenced.”
Monias said holding traditional ceremonies would be crucial to the community’s healing process.
Meanwhile, Manitoba’s premier announced a new fund Wednesday to encourage “reconciliation” with Indigenous Peoples.
In a news release, Wab Kinew said: “I want every child and every family in Manitoba to have the opportunity to reflect on the legacy of residentials schools, the children who didn’t come home and the profound impacts of that trauma on families that still exists today”
He also said Orange Shirt Day (the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation), celebrated on Sept. 30, would now be a provincial holiday in Manitoba.
Kinew said the move brings Manitoba in line with Call to Action No. 80 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action, which called for a statutory holiday in honour of survivors, their families and communities.
An Indian Residential Schools Help Line 1-866-925-4419 is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience.
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