`THIS IS VERY TRAGIC AND SAD'
More than 160 graves found in B.C.
The Penelakut Tribe says it has discovered more than 160 unmarked and undocumented graves on the grounds of the former Kuper Island Industrial School, just north of B.C.'S Salt Spring Island.
In a July 8 memo written “to our neighbouring tribes and organizations” and on behalf of Chief Joan Brown, council and elders, the Penelakut Tribe identifies the school, on Penelakut Island, as the site of the discovery.
“We understand that many of our brothers and sisters from our neighbouring communities attended the Kuper Island Industrial School,” the memo reads. “We also recognize with a tremendous amount of grief and loss, that too many did not return home.”
The residential school was in operation from 1889 to 1975 and has been referred to as “Canada's Alcatraz” because of its remote location and difficulty to escape from. It was operated by the Catholic Church with funding from the federal government.
The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia said records show more than 100 students died at the school between 1890 and 1966.
Two sisters drowned while trying to escape in 1959 and another student died by suicide in 1966.
The federal government took over administration in 1969 and shut the school down in 1975. Twenty years later, a former employee admitted to three charges of indecent assault and gross indecency.
It was not clear in the statement when the grave sites were found on Kuper Island, since renamed as Penelakut Island.
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba has records of 202 deaths of students at residential schools on Vancouver Island, including many from the Kuper Island school. First Nations survivors and researchers say greater numbers of children died as a result of neglect, tuberculosis and meningitis, fires and injuries from beatings and rapes, and those deaths were never recorded.
Penelakut Tribe member Steve Sxwithul'txw said Monday that he is only speaking for himself, not the tribe. “As a survivor and somebody who has attended the former Kuper Island residential school, of course I was upset.”
He is not surprised by the announcement, saying that when similar findings came out at the Kamloops residential school, he figured “it would be pretty much the same” at other school sites.
“For myself and my family, it is always upsetting when we hear (of) our lost loved ones that didn't come home from this institution, and this is very tragic and sad,” Sxwithul'txw said.
Eric Simons, a PHD student in anthropology at the University of British Columbia, has been working with the Penelakut Tribe at the former school site. He said Tuesday that researchers have been working off and on at the site since 2014.
The ground-penetrating radar doesn't find actual bodies but grave shafts, as well as changes in the soil, Simons said.
The school was demolished in the 1980s and Simons said that has been a challenge for both researchers and the community.
“Where it once stood is the core or centre of the main Penelakut town, so people live around that space,” Simons said.
The Penelakut Tribe will be holding a “March for Our Children” on Aug. 2 in nearby Chemainus.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference Tuesday that the findings by the Penelakut Tribe deepen the pain of Indigenous people across the country. He said the government is committed to telling the truth about what happened at residential schools.
Premier John Horgan said he's worked to reach out to Indigenous groups to get a better understanding of what can be done to help, and the government will make resources available for affected communities.