WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
A search of a former Manitoba residential school has uncovered what the head of the First Nation describes as “anomalies” that could be unmarked burial sites, although the true nature of these anomalies is still unclear. .
During the search, the ground penetration radar used in the Sagkeeng First Nation community discovered 190 ground anomalies that could be unmarked grave sites.
“So far, we don’t know what’s going on,” Sagkeeng chief Derrick Henderson said Monday morning.
“These are disturbances in the ground that fit the criteria of possibly unmarked burials. We still don’t know what’s underneath.”
Henderson and other officials held a community meeting on Friday to offer residents an update on search efforts, which began about a year ago. The search followed the findings of several possible unmarked burial sites in old residential schools across Canada last year.
Henderson said at last week’s meeting that there was a party, ceremony, and memorial songs. He asked community members to be patient as they determine what the next steps should be to confirm the nature of the 190 anomalies.
“It’s going to cause, it’s going to re-traumatize some of our former residential school survivors, it’s going to cause trauma to our community again.” He said.
“We’re going to gather people from our community and our pipe carriers now, for the next week or two, to go to the ceremony and then give us instructions on what we’re going to do next.”
When the search began on June 21, it led to an area near the community arena and powwow grounds along the Winnipeg River, where soil disturbances were found.
Henderson said community search sites did not contain lasting signs on the burial ground, but some survivors believe it could be the site where some missing children who were forced to attend a residential school were buried.
Henderson said 137 anomalies were found in the arena grounds and another 53 were found at a site adjacent to the arena grounds near a community store. Both sites are less than a mile from the site of the former Alexander School residential campus.
Old church settlement
Mary Courchene of Sagkeeng First Nation is a survivor of Fort Alexander Residential School. (Gary Solilak / CBC)
Mary Courchene attended Fort Alexander from 1944 until she finished 10th grade in the 1950s. She says the 190 anomalies may not be linked to Fort Alexander School at all.
Courchene said the old stories he heard suggest that there was a church settlement there, before the school was founded, that may have been involved in mission-type work, such as baptisms.
During the decade he spent there, he says he did not know any children who died at school.
“Occasionally there were rumors that there were grave sites nearby where they did the research,” he said.
“They weren’t kids, as I remember. Other people my age also say the same thing: they weren’t kids, they were people, maybe young, but they weren’t part of the residential school.”
Regardless of the nature of these particular anomalies, Courchene agrees that it is important to get to the bottom of what happened.
He said efforts to uncover unmarked graves play an important role in understanding the true story of what happened in residential schools.
“It was a brainwashing, changing our way of thinking … we were all affected by it,” he said. “They came, they saw, they conquered and they stole, they stole the children from the houses, from the families.”
Henderson said there were 31 other First Nations communities whose children were sent to Fort Alexander, which operated from 1905 to 1970. Members of those communities will be invited to Sagkeeng in the coming weeks for a ceremony and to discuss what should happen next.
Support is available to anyone affected by their experience in residential centers or the latest reports.
A national crisis line of Indian residential schools has been set up to support alumni and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the National Crisis Line 24 hours a day: 1-866-925-4419.