(English River First Nation/Facebook)

By meadowlakeNOW Staff

THE SEARCH CONTINUES

English River First Nation reports 83 possible unmarked graves at residential school site

Aug 10, 2023 | 11:13 AM

A First Nation community in northern Saskatchewan is sharing the grim details of the first phase in a ground penetrating radar search at a former residential school site.

The English River First Nation began searching the site of the old Beauval Indian Residential School in August 2021. Now, two years after that search began, the Elders and Council believe they have found 83 unmarked graves.

“Most of them were labelled as ‘child-sized’ or ‘sub-adult’ in length,” Chief Jenny Wolverine said. “Further to this, 12 of these unmarked graves average only 2.5 feet in length, which is consistent with the burial of infants, and in line with several witness accounts of infant births, and subsequent deaths, by survivors of this school.”

In a separate media release, the Elders Council said this news will impact survivors of the school and their descendants from across the country. The release goes on to say that the Elders Council is shocked but not surprised by the findings.

“Horrifying and gruelling stories of abuse from survivors have been circulating in our communities for generations,” the release stated. We can confirm that we have heard heart-wrenching survivor accounts of physical, sexual, emotional, and spiritual abuse, including stories of children dying under suspicious circumstances, and even babies being born and dying at this school. These findings verify the stories collected from elders and survivors and we believe that the ongoing review of the records will further corroborate our survivors’ stories.”

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At this time, the Elders and survivors are requesting privacy for the next couple of weeks to ensure that proper protocol and ceremony can be done to honour the lives of the children.

A special council of community members, elders, and survivors are providing guidance and direction on the steps next steps.

The First Nation said more sites have been identified by survivor accounts and will be searched by the ground penetrating radar team over the next year.

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cjnbnews@pattisonmedia.com