(Toronto) The City of Toronto said one of its construction crews discovered “ancient” human remains in an Indigenous cemetery on Friday.
Published yesterday at 1:35 p.m.
The team working on a water main on Withrow Avenue, a street near Toronto's Greek Quarter on the city's east side, contacted Toronto police after finding the remains, the city told the communications channel.
Toronto police spokeswoman Laura Brabant said the remains were found shortly after noon on Friday and that police and an anthropologist responded to the scene.
“The anthropologist visited the site and indicated that the remains came from an old marked indigenous cemetery in this area,” Ms. Brabant said in an emailed statement.
A well-known archaeological site
The area has been known as an archaeological site since at least 1886, when construction crews on Withrow Avenue reportedly found mass graves in the area.
Withrow Public School now occupies the site of an ancient Native American encampment where a spearhead about 7,000 years old was found, according to a city report on the Danforth Avenue area, which includes Greektown.
Ms Brabant said on Sunday morning that police remained on site to protect the area and the remains, pending further instructions from the anthropologist.
The city says work is on hold while the investigation continues.
Toronto lies on the traditional territory of many nations, including Mississauga of the Credit, Anishnabeg, Chippewa, Haudenosaunee and Wendat.