Two Innu families will soon be able to open two graves buried in a 1970 cemetery in Pessamit on the north coast to finally find out if they contain the remains of their babies.
“If we’re not sure if it’s our child, we have to go and see,” said Françoise Ruperthouse, director-general of the Association of Awakak Families on Wednesday.
The group she leads supports 94 Aboriginal families who are looking for 152 children from more than twenty communities in Quebec. These little ones were evacuated from their respective localities to health facilities between 1940 and 1980. In some cases, their families then learned that they had died. Others were never informed of the fate of their children.
The number of missing children is steadily increasing: in 2022, 55 children were wanted, on February 20, 2023 there were 120. In a few months, 30 more were added.
“Unfortunately and painfully, the number of children and families is changing by the day,” said Florence Dupré, coordinator at the First Nations and Inuit Relations Secretariat. “We keep getting new requests. »
Two exhumations approved
On June 7, Supreme Court Justice Nancy Bonsaint authorized the exhumation of two bodies at the request of two Innu families. They want to know if the babies they buried in May 1970 in Notre-Dame de l’Assomption de Betsiamites cemetery in Pessamit on the north coast actually belong to them.
Regrettably […]the number of children and families changes from day to day.
The two infants, one four months old and the other less than a month old, were returned to their respective families in closed coffins after being hospitalized with whooping cough. At the direction of doctors and funeral home owners, their loved ones could not open the coffins to confirm their babies’ identities.
These exhumations are the first to be approved since legislation was passed in 2021 to make it easier to find families of missing children. These are coordinated by the Coroner’s Office and the Forensic Science and Forensic Medicine Laboratory (LSJML).
To ensure the privacy of those affected, the two organizations have not disclosed the exact timing of the exhumations. But the families demanded that this be done as soon as possible and with all severity [et] the least possible risk of error,” said Ms. Dupré.
The exhumations will therefore take place “certainly soon”, before the ground freezes. The sites where they will be carried out have already been assessed and identified. Once the remains are lifted from the ground, they are transported to the Montreal morgue for an examination.
“Depending on the quality and quantity of DNA we’re going to have, the analyzes will be done more or less quickly,” summarized Suzanne Marchand, senior director general of the Laboratory of Forensic Sciences and Forensic Medicine (LSJML). If the corpses’ DNA matches that of the families, they can dispose of it as they please. Otherwise, the remains will be buried.
A “certain peace” for families
Thanks to exhumations and research, Françoise Ruperthouse hopes to “give back some peace” to families searching for their children.
She recalled having “lost” two children. His little brother Tony was never seen again after being hospitalized and investigations by the Ruperthouse family revealed that he died in hospital a few years after the death date they were given. Her sister Emily was found, now disabled, 35 years after her disappearance in Baie-Saint-Paul, 900 kilometers from her home in Pikogan.
Before the Supreme Court, the families of the missing children expressed the desperation they have felt at the loss of loved ones. “To this day I don’t know if my son died or if he is still alive,” said the mother of the newborn child, who is less than a month old. The identities of families and babies are protected by the court.
“I don’t know if exhuming my son’s body will ease that feeling. On the other hand, my family and I will finally be able to find answers to the insecurities that have always inhabited us, and maybe then we can begin our healing process,” she added.
The sister of the four-month-old daughter also testified in court on behalf of her mother, who died in 2021. “Today my mother died, but she lives through me.” I can feel his feelings, his pain, and it hurts me immensely,” she said. She also said she didn’t know if her brother was actually dead, as her mother wasn’t allowed to open the coffin that was presented to her.