Flags mark where ground-penetrating radar recorded hits of what are believed to be 751 unmarked graves in this cemetery near the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School on the Cowessess First Nation, Sask. on Saturday, June 26, 2021. A British Columbia First Nation is releasing the results of a preliminary search for unmarked graves on the grounds of a former residential school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor
PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – The chief of the Tseshaht First Nation on Vancouver Island says ground-penetrating radar has detected 17 suspected grave sites around the property of the former Alberni Indian Residential School.
Brian Whiting, a geophysics division manager with GeoScan, the company that conducted the scans, says that is the minimum number of suspected graves believed to be on 12 of 100 hectares that they searched since last summer.
The nation says its interviews with survivors, the historical records and other documents also show that 67 students died at the school, many of them from medical conditions.
Sheri Meding, the lead researcher who did the work with historical records and survivors’ statements, says many of those children died from medical conditions.
Children from at least 70 Indigenous communities around B.C. attended the school while it operated from 1900 to 1973.
The Port Alberni site is the latest of several Canadian locations being searched for possible unmarked graves of children who died while being forced to attend residential schools.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 21, 2023.
