Hatter searching for First Nations remains once buried on Scholten Hill
A city man is attempting to locate the remains of First Nations dead who were believed buried on Scholten Hill sometime during the late-1800s, early 1900s and disinterred during road construction in the mid-twentieth century.
“I’d like to see them brought back if they’re sitting in boxes,” said Rob Demarais.
“I’d like to see them brought back here.”
In the Nov. 19, 1959 edition of the News, the paper reported at least three graves were dug up on the hillside by city work crews.
At the time the city was building what would become City View Road, later renamed Scholten Hill.
The News reported the bodies were wrapped in bright blankets with tin cups, a pipe, buttons and an earring also recovered from the site.
In a News column four days after the discovery, the paper reported long-time resident Carl Sillak recalled nearly 100 First Nations, either Blackfoot or Cree, living near the current site of Medalta Potteries during the first few years of the twentieth century.
He told the News of funeral processions which would march up Scholten Hill with the dead on travois and who were accompanied by First Nations women tying coloured rags or feathers on sage brush and small bushes to ward off evil spirits.
He estimated he believed about 16 individuals were buried at the site.
In the March 18, 1963 edition of the News, the paper reported Medicine Hat Police Sgt. Alf Mews had chased some children away who were digging up some of the bones at the site of an old and unmarked Cree cemetery located at the top of City View Road.
A number of the bones were left strewn across the site prior to being collected by officials.
According to documents provided to the News from the Esplanade Archives, a number of excavations took place over the 1960s in the area of Scholten Hill following the discoveries, with the largest uncovering the bodies of 11 adults and two children.
It’s those 13 bodies, according to documentation, that were taken to Edmonton for study by University of Alberta officials and which Demarais would like to see returned or accounted for.
The remains had been reinterred in Medicine Hat before being dug up again and taken to the University of Alberta for research purposes.
“If they were white people, they would have been brought back and put in the ground here,” said Demarais, who was born and partially grew up in the former Metis community of Saratoga Park at the foot of Scholten Hill.
Demarais said he doesn’t know if the 13 bodies were reinterred in Edmonton or if they continue to be held by the university. But he’d like to find out. “I think it’s only right ... I am passionate about it because my ancestors are First Nations,” Demarais.
Historical photos from the 1930s provided by the Esplanade Archives document that the burial sites were indeed marked by wooden fences, though, it appears they were no longer standing by the late-1950s, early-1960s.