A First Nation on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast says ground-penetrating radar confirms the findings of an additional 41 unmarked graves at a former Indian residential school.
The sh铆sh谩lh Nation announced in a post on its website Friday (Aug. 15) that there are now a total of 81 unmarked graves after archaeologists identified an additional 41 at the former St. Augustine鈥檚 Residential School grounds in Sechelt. The Nation announced the first results of ground-penetrating radar scans in 2023.
鈥淲e are deeply saddened, but these numbers are not a surprise to us. We have always believed our Elders. This wasn鈥檛 a school, it wasn鈥檛 a choice, and the children who attended were stolen," Chief Lenora Joe said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 need the GPR to prove this happened; we always had enough proof to know.鈥�
The residential school was operated by the Roman Catholic Church and funded by the federal government, . The webpage also has an in memoriam for five students who died during the school's operation.
Joe said survivor accounts include children being led by staff into the forest in the middle of the night, never to return, and child witnesses who were punished for asking questions.
The Nation says that in the last 18 months, a ground-penetrating radar team has been scanning additional areas identified through the stories and memories of sh铆sh谩lh survivors. However, the school also had students attending from 53 other communities 鈥� most of those in B.C., but some as far away as Saskatchewan.
The Nation added it is working with those other Nations.
"There are survivors from other communities who don鈥檛 want to come to Sechelt because of their trauma from St. Augustine鈥檚. They have bad feelings towards our community."
The St. Augustine鈥檚 Residential School operated in Sechelt from 1904 to 1975. The first school burned down in 1917 and the second school opened in 1922, but burned down in 1975.
