Tseshaht First Nation says 17 suspected graves found at former residential school site

Editor’s note: Emotional support or assistance for those who are affected by the residential school system can be found at Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll-free 1 (800) 721-0066 or 24-hr Crisis Line 1 (866) 925-4419.

The Tseshaht First Nation on Vancouver Island says at least 17 geophysical features representing suspected graves have been found at the former residential school site near Port Alberni.

On Tuesday, the Nation released the preliminary findings after 18 months of ground-penetrating radar searches around the former Alberni Indian Residential School (AIRS) site.

In addition to the possible graves, the Nation says its interviews with survivors, the historical records and other documents also show that 67 students died at the school.

“A total number of … deaths and a complete picture of potential theory locations will never be known because there’s too many records that are missing,” Sheri Meding, the lead researcher of the search, said.

Meding says the main cause of death at AIRS was sickness.

“Overwhelmingly, the cause of death was due to medical conditions, conditions that were very clearly inadequate conditions, unhealthy conditions at the school,” Meding explained.

“Many, many students who attended AIRS were sick,” she said, adding some children were also sent home or to hospitals while sick, and later died.

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Brian Whiting with GeoScan, a land surveyor who has been working on the project, says out of the 100 hectares of space being scanned, about 12 hectares have been searched to date.

Whiting says there is no clear-cut method for analyzing the data, but the team looks for shapes, reflections, and potential materials that could indicate possible burial sites.

“We can’t be 100 per cent certain … without excavation or archaeological testing, and as I said, that is probably not going to happen in a lot of places,” Whiting said.

He admits there are likely more potential burial sites in the area. However, he notes based on a number of geophysical and other factors, many parts of the site will be difficult to search extensively.

“We know this news can be difficult for all residential school survivors, their loved ones, communities and Canadians. However, this work is essential as we embark on this journey of truth,” Tseshaht Elected Chief Councillor Wahmeesh, whose English name is Ken Watts, said in a statement on Feb. 13.

“These preliminary findings provide survivors and our Nation with the knowledge and tools needed to continue our important and sacred work. We will never know the exact number of children who did not make it home. As we progress through the next phases of our research and scanning, we will continue to do our best to find answers.”

‘We are doing our part to educate the world about what happened’

A history compiled by the Tseshaht found that children from at least 100 B.C. First Nations attended the Port Alberni school while it operated from 1900 to 1973.

When the scan began in July of 2022, the Nation announced the team of researchers would be “led by survivors, ha’wiih (hereditary chiefs), council and our people to ensure the project is grounded in values and culture.”

It added that it is committed to conducting the scans with “compassion and care so as not to disrupt possible burial locations.”

“We never consented for it to be placed on our territory, but we are doing our part to educate the world about what happened,” Watts said of the residential school.

“If they can build war memorials for people that have served in war, they can build memorials for all of us that were warriors and survived the residential school,” Watts said.

The leaders of the First Nations Summit (FNS) are also expressing their sorrow at the findings.

“Once again, we have yet another community announcing important results of ground penetrating radar investigations stemming from this bleak time in our history. Words cannot express our continuing sadness for the lost children whose unmarked gravesites continue to be found at former residential school sites,” Cheryl Casimer, a political executive with the FNS said in a release.

“It is horrifying and unconscionable to understand the thousands of children cast aside in what has been confirmed as a Canadian genocide.”

Political Executive Hugh Braker adds the impact will have long-standing effects. 

“The horrific physical and emotional abuses suffered by our children who attended residential schools continue to have devastating inter-generational impacts on our people and our communities to this very day,” Political Executive Hugh Braker added.

The Tseshaht’s findings were released weeks after the results from the second phase of a probe into possible graves at the former St. Joseph’s Mission near Williams Lake were made public. That investigation found an additional 66 “reflections,” adding to the 93 potential graves detected earlier.

The examination at St. Joseph’s came after ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be more than 200 graves at the former Indian Residential School in Kamloops, nearly two years ago.

With files from The Canadian Press