Manitoba First Nation reports 150 anomalies found at former residential school

CROSS LAKE, OM. — A First Nations community in northern Manitoba says ground-penetrating radar has found 150 anomalies at the site of a former residential school, including 59 unmarked graves in a nearby cemetery.

Cree Nation Chief Pimicikamak also says 37 anomalies were found off-site, more than a kilometer away from the St. Joseph’s.

The anomalies – places where the soil has been disturbed – were found at depths between one and two meters, Chief David Monias said Wednesday.

He said the discovery means work is now needed to determine how many of the anomalies are unmarked burial sites.

“It’s quite shocking to hear so many (anomalies), because you wonder how many missing children are out there,” Monias said.

St. Joseph’s Residential School, run by the Roman Catholic Church, operated in the community from 1912 to 1969 and housed children from northern Manitoba.

Researchers had previously documented 85 child deaths at the school, Monias said when the radar search began two years ago.

In Canada, approximately 150,000 Indigenous children have been forced to attend residential schools. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission detailed abuses in the schools and estimated that 6,000 indigenous children died in the institutions.

Documents from the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation say the outbreaks at St. Joseph’s were linked to overcrowding, including the spread of tuberculosis in 1943.

Monias said the community wants help to continue the investigation. He is calling on the federal government to fund a further search by the Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons.

“We need an independent, impartial body to come in and help with these searches,” Monias said.

The federal government said it would support communities.

“Today’s news from Manitoba is devastating. Residential schools are a shameful reality of Canadian history, and their painful legacy continues to be felt today,” Matthieu Perrotin, press secretary to Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree, wrote in an email.

“We are working in partnership to support communities as they continue the very important work of locating, identifying and commemorating the remains of children who never came home.”

Searches of former residential schools have been launched in many parts of Canada since 2021, when ground-penetrating radar detected 215 anomalies at the Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia.

In Manitoba, 14 anomalies were found at the site of the former Pine Creek Residential School. Following the excavation, there was no evidence of human remains.

The Sagkeeng First Nation found 190 soil anomalies in 2022.

Monias said learning the truth behind the anomalies will bring closure.

“You can’t do that with so many questions in your head and wondering what the truth is out there.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 3, 2024.

The Canadian Press