(Williams Lake) The head of a survey group searching for unmarked graves at the site of a former federal Indian residential school in British Columbia said Wednesday that the latest phase of work had found in the ground 66 new “footprints” suggesting the presence of children’s graves.
Whitney Spearing also said at a press conference that the results of phase 2 of the investigation showed that crimes had been committed against children in this Catholic mission Saint-Joseph, close to the T’exelcemc community of Williams Lake, in the center of the province.
Archaeologist says in addition to ‘potential graves’ found during tech survey, interviews with survivors and archival research revealed babies born to girls sexually assaulted at boarding school were disposed of by incineration on site and elsewhere.
The lead investigator said her group found that “at least” 28 children had died at the boarding school, which operated between 1886 and 1981. Many of these children were buried on the property of this St. Joseph Mission, in unmarked graves.
A year ago, the community of this T’exelcemc nation announced that the first phase of its investigation had discovered 93 other suspicious traces of unmarked graves at this site.
T’exelcemc community leader Willie Sellers said Wednesday the next steps would be to potentially exhume bodies in areas that have already been scanned, which show a possible total of 159 unmarked graves.
According to Chief Sellers, children from 48 different communities attended this residential school. He admits that the whole process of potential body exhumation, carried out in collaboration with other nations, will be a “terrifying exercise”.
The “Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program” provides a crisis line for former residential school students and their loved ones who may be suffering from trauma caused by the memory of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.