Warning: This story deals with disturbing subject matter that may upset and trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.
First Nations leaders in British Columbia are “very disappointed” by a recent report that residential school deniers tried to dig up suspected unmarked grave sites at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
News of the undated incident was made public Friday in an interim report from Canada’s independent special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked burial sites associated with residential schools — a harrowing system of assimilation sponsored by the federal government and multiple Christian churches for more than a century.
“Denialists entered the site without permission. Some came in the middle of the night, carrying shovels; they said they wanted to ‘see for themselves’ if children are buried there,” reads the report by Kimberly Murray.
“A core group of Canadians continue to defend the Indian Residential Schools System.”
Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc sent shockwaves of grief and anger across the nation two years ago when it revealed more than 200 suspected burial sites on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, detected through ground-penetrating radar.
Those missing children, called Le Estcwicwéy̓, stirred a nationwide reckoning on Canada’s racist and violent colonial foundations, and prompting searches of former residential school grounds that have since revealed the possible presence of thousands of unmarked grave sites across the country.
Global News has reached out to Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir for comment.
Red Hummingbird Woman Judy Wilson’s father attended Kamloops Indian Residential School. Wilson, a member of the Neskonlith Indian Band and intergenerational survivor, said the trespassing on sacred ground and attempt to dig up Le Estcwicwéy̓ constitutes “continued genocide.”
“It’s denying that our children were removed. It’s denying that our people went through what they survived today,” Wilson explained. “The continued denialism of these groups or individuals really is just opening up that trauma.
“Also, they haven’t got the information. Instead of taking their pickaxes and shovels to these graveyards of the children, they should be doing their research.”
Canada’s residential school system locked away more than 150,000 Indigenous children, ripping them from their families and culture in an effort to destroy Indigenous identities. Thousands died from abuse, disease and malnutrition, and countless more were subjected to sickening physical and sexual violence by priests and nuns.
An unknown number never returned home, and last July, Pope Francis affirmed what survivors and their families have been saying for decades, calling the residential schools an act of “genocide.”
Irrefutable evidence of the system, its lasting harms, and the intergenerational trauma it has caused was published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015.
Terry Teegee, chief of the Assembly of First Nations in B.C., said he and others were “very disappointed” by the “disturbing” news that deniers entered Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc territory without permission to disturb the missing children.
“It’s quite disappointing in terms of where we are trying to get to with reconciliation, trying to undo 200 years of genocidal acts imposed on Indigenous people,” he said.
“There’s really no point in terms of denying these facts, and also further to that, it’s up to First Nations on what we’re doing in a very careful, very — I suppose — traditional and sensitive way to deal with these grave sites.”
Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc has made it clear that exhumation of the suspected unmarked grave sites will take place on its terms, in keeping with its cultural protocols.
Teegee, who said his prayers are with the nation and all First Nations people on Monday, said if the trespassers are caught, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Kúkpi7 Willie Sellars, chief of Williams Lake First Nation, said the report from the special interlocutor “hits really close to home.” Last January, his nation revealed the presence of 93 suspected unmarked graves after an initial sweep of the former grounds of St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School.
“It’s scary to think about once we eventually do get to excavation, exhumation and what that’s going to do to the mental health and wellness, and the trauma and the triggers that our survivors are dreading,” he told Global News.
“You factor in the denialism that is happening in this country, now it’s just further adding flames to the fire, to the trauma that’s already inflicted in our elders and in our survivors.”
Linc Kesler, who taught First Nations and Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia prior to his retirement, said the “desire to rewrite history” in a way that makes the masses more comfortable is a “feature of our times.”
He said he’s confident in the evidence presented by ground-penetrating radar sweeps to date, but understands the lack of “absolute certainty” that arises in the absence of exhumations. Still, he urged the public to question why that matters.
“Does that mean that the residential schools didn’t happen? Does that mean they weren’t cruel? Does that mean that children didn’t die in them? We have documentation that there were times in some of the schools where the fatality rate was over 60 per cent,” Kesler said.
“We have the testimony of survivors who saw bodies being carried out of the schools, who were sometimes recruited into details in which they were responsible for carrying bodies out of the schools.”
Murray’s report also states that other unsanctioned visitors, including members of the media, entered the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site without community permission and did not always respect it.
“Some breached cultural protocols, taking photos and video recordings of the burial site area without consent,” it reads.
“Many communities have had to adopt security measures to keep trespassers off the search sites.”
In response to the challenges in her own community, Casimir recommended other nations undertaking similar work around unmarked burial sites create a communications strategy, and ensure mental health supports are in place for survivors, their families, and community members impacted by media intrusions and coverage.
She also advised communities to maintain strict control of investigation sites and information provided to journalists.
“This is more than a media story whose time is coming and going, we have to ensure justice and accountability keeps going in the long-term,” Casimir said.
The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line (1-800-721-0066) is available 24 hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience.
Support is also available through the 24-hour National Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.
The Hope for Wellness Help Line offers culturally competent counselling and crisis intervention to all Indigenous peoples experiencing trauma, distress, strong emotions and painful memories. The line can be reached anytime toll-free at 1-855-242-3310.
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