The Survivors' Flag hangs to honour Indigenous Peoples who were forced to attend residential schools, on the grounds of the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. A Fraser Valley First Nation is expected to provide an update on its work into missing children and unmarked burials at three former residential school sites. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
MISSION, BRITISH COLUMBIA – A Fraser Valley, B.C., First Nation is expected to provide an update on its work into missing children and unmarked burials at three former residential school sites.
The investigation was launched after ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be more than 200 graves at a former residential school in Kamloops in May 2021, prompting similar searches and findings in several provinces.
Stolo First Nation says its initiative focuses on St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission, Coqualeetza Industrial Institute/Residential School in Chilliwack and All Hallows School in Yale, and the Coqualeetza Indian Hospital.
It says its Taking Care of Children team has been studying archival, oral historical and on-site remote sensing work in search of identifiable unmarked graves.
A post to the Stolo Nation’s website, dated December 2021, says the work for the project had begun that August and would be following a three-year plan.
The statement says remote sensing and imaging technologies including drone-based lidar surface mapping and photogrammetry, as well as ground-penetrating radar, would be used to search for unmarked graves.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2023.
