A total of 93 potential unmarked graves have been identified in a northern Saskatchewan community at the site of a former residential school.
Ground-penetrating radar is being used near the former Beauval residential school and English River First Nation Chief Jenny Wolverine said they found another potential 10 graves after the first 83 were found.
“These are not the final numbers,” Wolverine said.
She said they were saddened by the additional finding and that their work is not over.
“We need to pool our resources, First Nations and Métis, to continue. We need Canada and Saskatchewan to step up, acknowledge and provide meaningful resources that meet the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of survivors and addresses the intergenerational impacts to families.”
Wolverine, elders and members of Meadow Lake Tribal Council, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan and the office of the Treaty Commissioner made a unified call to action to address the “long-standing injustices suffered by residential school survivors and ensure history never repeats itself.”
They called for the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be implemented, culturally appropriate memorials in communities and a monument to acknowledge residential schools, healing centres to address the continued harm of residential schools, the government to provide a complete list of residential school students, and a national education journey that goes over the effects that residential schools have had on families.