Surveys are being conducted at around thirty sites across the country to identify potential anonymous indigenous graves. However, there are no shortage of obstacles on the way to the truth.
Kamloops, the trigger
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After recounting their experiences at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, Evelyn Camille (left) and Leona Thomas (right), two survivors, hug. (archive photo)
Photo: The Canadian Press / Darryl Dyck
It was the May 2021 discovery of 215 unmarked graves on the site of the former Indigenous residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, that helped draw attention to the deaths of children at these facilities.
The scale of the tragedy subsequently sent shockwaves across the country, even though indigenous communities had warned for decades about the existence of graves on the grounds of residential schools built by the federal government in the 19th century and operated by the church.
From Kamloops, communities report new discoveries several times a year. The National Center for Truth and Reconciliation’s registry lists 2,900 names of children who died while attending an Indigenous residential school. The names of another 1,000 are unknown.
What do we know today?
Since 2021, more than 1,400 anonymous graves and potential burials have been reported. This report does not include soil anomalies identified during research and currently under investigation.
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Interactive map of current excavations and residential schools.
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According to the reference site Pathways to Reconciliation (New Window) (see map above), which continually updates its data, more than thirty research projects are currently underway across the country.
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Flags mark the spot where radar is believed to have recorded 751 unmarked graves in this cemetery near the site of the former Marieval Residential School in Saskatchewan. (archive photo)
Photo: The Canadian Press / Mark Taylor
Graves are most numerous in Saskatchewan; there were about 800 of them (2000 anomalies were also detected). British Columbia follows with more than 700 unmarked graves.
No bodies have been exhumed so far, but geophysical evidence, witness statements and reports confirm their presence. The Canadian government is also considering how to counter the denial of the existence of anonymous indigenous graves.
Structural boundaries: neither national framework nor legal framework
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Rebekah Jacques, National Advisory Committee on Missing Children from Residential Schools and Unmarked Graves.
Photo: Courtesy of Rebekah Jacques
There is no national framework that can standardize community practices around excavations. A real problem for Rebekah Jacques, pathologist and forensic pathologist, member of the National Advisory Committee on Missing Children from Residential Schools and Unmarked Graves.
In a given location, it can be very difficult for responsible communities to contact all affected families and survivors, especially when it is not always clear who is buried. The work requires coordination and teamwork between families and communities with numerous forensic experts, archaeologists, archival research, DNA, wellness experts and funding sources.
She also mentions a major obstacle: the lack of a legal framework for the sites, their protection and their access.
Their protection most often occurs after the discovery of human remains, while in their opinion it should be the other way around. Without their protection, it is difficult to conduct research, commemoration and repatriation of the bodies.
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Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Sofa during a visit to the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation to learn about the unmarked graves at the former Brandon Residential School. (archive photo)
Photo: Facebook/Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak
The Dakota Nation of Sioux Valley, for example, tried for years to gain access to the Brandon Indian Residential School site. But the property owner, who runs a campsite, has not cooperated despite receiving evidence of an Aboriginal cemetery on his land.
As a result, camping on the site was not banned until 2021, even though nationwide calls had begun nine years earlier. Last October, she planned to conduct further research to determine the boundaries of the cemetery, but the owner refused her entry.
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Kimberly Murray, a Mohawk from Kahnesatake, was appointed last year as the independent special contact for missing children and unmarked graves and residential burials.
Photo: (CBC) / Stephen Jaison Empson
Unfortunately, this is a complex issue and laws […] Although there is no clear legal mechanism, private landowners continue to retain discretionary authority to grant access to these sites, criticizes Kimberly Murray, the federal government’s independent special interlocutor, in her report Sacred Responsibilities: The Search for Missing Children and anonymous burials, published in June last year.
Kimberly Murray also regrets the police’s weak contribution.
Police officers and coroners can […] exercise their powers to protect or provide access to excavation sites, but these powers have yet to be used, even when desired by survivors and indigenous communities […] The inadequacy of the current legal framework […] has serious consequences for survivors, families, communities and Indigenous leaders.
At the end of his visit to Canada last March, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Mr. Cali Tzay, made the same observations as the Special Interlocutor.
Technological barriers: Georadar cannot do everything
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John Elliott, a survivor of the Mohawk Institute residential school in Brantford, practices using ground-penetrating radar technology during a training session in October. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Bobby Hristova
To find unmarked graves, communities use ground penetrating radar (GPR), which is similar to lawnmowers. GPRs send radio waves into the ground and measure the reflected waves. They make it possible to locate underground objects without having to dig.
GPR systems aren’t difficult to use, but training certainly helps, says Troy De Souza of Sensors & Software, a company that makes and sells them. However, these devices quickly reach their limits.
Some soils are electrically conductive, such as clay, which limits the distance from which anomalies can be detected. Others, like gravel or sand, can be seen further away. Additionally, the radar detects an anomaly but doesn’t tell you whether it’s a grave or a metal pipe.
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William Wadsworth works on the team of Kisha Surprenant, director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archeology at the University of Alberta.
Photo: University of Alberta Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology
William Wadsworth, a doctoral student in archeology, has been conducting research on First Nations residential school grounds since 2018. He also explains that many elements can affect the precision of the machine. If there is a lot of water in the ground, it can increase or decrease the size of what appears to be an underground anomaly, which can complicate searches.
Finally, the radars available in Canada are not the most efficient. With a single-channel radar, scanning an area the size of a football field at 25 centimeters above the ground takes a week. It requires a lot of time and resources from nations. With multi-channel radar, however, it takes a day, says William Wadsworth. However, only one of these radars is available nationwide in Canada.
However, according to the experts interviewed, the biggest limitation lies in the ability to interpret the data collected. More and more communities are conducting research and therefore need specialists to analyze the numbers. However, there aren’t enough of them.
Access to these experts is necessary at every stage, be it analyzing radar data, scientific exhumations, autopsies and identifications, emphasizes Dr. Jacques.
The human and cultural dimension of the excavations
Beyond legal and technological considerations, there are ethical and cultural questions that can slow research until it is resolved by communities or even end it. For example, some communities want to exhume the bodies, while others, who believe it disturbs the spirits of ancestors, reject the idea.
In addition, according to Dr. Jacques a good chance that children from different nations rest in the same anonymous graves. This means that in certain cases agreements must be made from nation to nation in order to carry out the excavations.
Some communities want forensic analysis that can determine the guilt or innocence of criminal institutions, others do not, changing the approach to exhumations. Therefore, if communities so desire, law enforcement will be involved from the outset. It may take a long time to agree on the question.
Ultimately, communities must decide what to do with the body they find. Families must first be warned, there is little chance of whole bodies being found, bones may be present, but children’s bones stay in the ground for less time than adults’, explains Rebekah Jacques.
A difficult undertaking, but not impossible
The list of difficulties associated with excavations can be dizzying. But for Rebekah Jacques, despite all these pitfalls, the job can get done. We have the building blocks, knowledge and expertise to accomplish this task. […] Capacity must be strengthened and obstacles systematically addressed.
Analyzing the results of certain excavations could take about ten years, Kimberly Murray explains in her preliminary report.
The road to truth is still long.