Potential unmarked graves identified at former residential school in central B.C.

 

STORY AND VIDEO: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/potential-unmarked-graves-identified-at-former-residential-school-in-central-b-c/ar-AA1v2LtG

The site of a former British Columbia residential school that had its own cemetery since the early 1920s is now the location of potential unmarked graves, says the chief of a Fraser Lake area First Nation.

Nadleh Whut'en First Nation Chief Beverly Ketlo said after almost two years of geophysical survey work, the nation believes it can confirm potential unmarked graves at the site of the former Lejac Indian Residential School, located about 160 kilometres west of Prince George.

The First Nation had always known children were buried at the church-run institution because many of their graves were marked in a cemetery that had been there since 1922, when the school opened, but the survey's findings suggest a number of unmarked graves, she said at a news conference Saturday.

"We have information today that shows that there are likely grave sites in the location of the Lejac school," said Ketlo. "We know there were more children there, we just didn't know where. How many, and this is a question I ask everybody I meet, how many of the schools you attended had graveyards in the backyard?"

The survey did not positively identify any unmarked graves, but indicated "23 markers" of potential burial locations, she said.

The geophysical survey work, using ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry, started in the winter of 2023 and focused on areas identified by survivors of the residential school, said Ketlo.

About 7,850 Indigenous children attended Lejac school, which was in operation from 1922 to 1976.

The Nadleh Whut'en First Nation said there were 38 documented deaths at the institution.

Ketlo said among the Lejac Indian Residential School's darkest chapters was the deaths of four boys in 1937.