Wednesday, March 02, 2022

'Fresh wounds:' 169 potential graves found at former Grouard residential school

Hamdi Issawi
© Provided by Edmonton Journal Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey (right) listens while Kapawe'no First Nation Chief Sydney Halcrow speaks about the discovery of 169 potential remains with ground penetrating radar at the former Grouard Mission site in Treaty 8 during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

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University of Alberta researchers working with Kapawe`no First Nation have identified 169 potential graves at a former residential school site in northern Alberta.

Speaking in Edmonton on Tuesday at the North Peace Tribal Council Office, Chief Sydney Lee Halcrow of the Kapawe’no First Nation announced the results of a recent ground survey, and said it marks the beginning of a long journey to learn about the children who never made it home from St. Bernard’s mission in Grouard, about 370 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

“The grief we felt when discovering our stolen children has opened fresh wounds,” Halcrow said. “We remember the desolation our people felt when our children were forcibly removed from their families and communities to be placed in Indian residential schools.”

The announcement comes after the First Nation, assisted by the University of Alberta’s Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, completed ground survey work in October at the former mission site.

Dr. Kisha Supernant, director of the institute and an associate professor of archeology at the university, said the effort involved ground-penetrating radar and drone imagery during a six-day search of only one acre of the site — a “high priority” area identified by residential school survivors, community members and archival records.

Halcrow told Postmedia the entire site spans at least 100 acres, and he plans to eventually search all of it.

© Ian Kucerak Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey spoke about the discovery of 169 potential remains with ground penetrating radar at the former Grouard Mission site in Treaty 8 during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

Of the potential graves identified, Supernant said 115 were found at a community cemetery in an area with no grave markers, while 54 were found in other areas around the school property.

The effort relied on Canadian Archaeology Association best practices for the use of ground-penetrating radar to search for unmarked graves, she added, and all data were analyzed to identify results with traits that scientific research associates with unmarked graves.

While she is reasonably confident the cemetery findings represent graves, Supernant said she can’t determine whether they belong to children or other community members, although parish records indicate that children who died at the school were buried in the cemetery.

“We do not need ground-penetrating radar results to know that children didn’t come home from this school,” she said. “The knowledge of survivors, and the extensive archival records already contained clear information about children dying while in residence here.”

Following the announcement, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson issued a joint statement condemning the “wicked injustice” of the residential school system while thanking the university’s archeological team for its assistance.

In June, Kenney said the province would spend $8 million to aid Indigenous communities researching burial sites and undocumented deaths at residential schools.

Halcrow said Kapawe`no First Nation conducted the search on its own dime, and only received provincial funds a couple of weeks ago.

“If we would have waited, this report would not be done until probably next year,” he said.

© Ian Kucerak Dr. Kisha Supernant, Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, University of Alberta, speaks about the discovery of 169 potential remains with ground penetrating radar at the former Grouard Mission site in Treaty 8 during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), St. Bernard’s, also known as the Grouard Indian Residential School, operated for 63 years between 1894 and 1957 under Roman Catholic administration.

Supernant said the search will expand to include the site of a former Anglican mission nearby known as St. Peter’s, which the NCTR identifies as the Lesser Slave Lake Residential School.

Also speaking at the announcement, Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey said the mounting number of potential graves found at former residential school sites across the country leaves him with a deep sorrow that’s difficult to express.

In May, a ground-penetrating radar search near the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. helped identify about 200 potential graves. Since then, Indigenous communities across the country have reported hundreds of similar findings.

“It’s as if this wound cannot heal — it’s reopened over and over, and when you think it will get better, it splits open again,” Noskey said. “How can we heal if we haven’t found them all? How can we heal unless we search every single residential school site in Canada for our children?”

The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day at 1-800-721-0066 for those feeling pain or distress from residential school experiences.

hissawi@postmedia.com

@hamdiissawi

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