Star Blanket Cree Nation (SBCN) used using ground penetrating radar (GPR) and discovered more than 2,000 “places of interest” that could be unmarked graves..SBCN Chief Michael Starr addressed the public with members of the community and the SBCN Indian Residential School Ground Search Project Committee in the gym of the former Lebret Indian Industrial School (LIIS), about 75 km northeast of Regina.. Star Blanket Cree Nation Press Conference .The gym is the only part of the LIIS still standing, which is currently a “gathering centre” for the SBCN’s activities..Starr said they knew something was happening at the residential school, but did not know what..“Because we were aware of the things that were happening in the past,” said Starr. .“We didn’t know exactly what was happening. But we knew something happened.”.“It was sad. It was hurtful. And it made us very angry. What had happened to our young people.”.While SBCN waited for funding, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) bankrolled the project..The GPR worked better on frozen ground to help with the search..“During the winter months, [it] had actually been really really easy because that GPR signal likes to travel through frozen ground better than warm, moist ground,” said Starr..However, GPR is not perfect. There are over 2,000 “places of interest,” but that does not mean they are unmarked graves, according to Starr..“We acquired over 2,000 confirmed hits,” said Starr..“Does that mean there’s 2,000 unmarked graves? We don’t think so. Because there’s anomalies … GPR can’t definitively say … It could be a stone and it can be a combo of gravel. It could be a piece of wood, or it could actually be something. We don’t know yet. All we know is that there’s over 2,000 of them.”.A security guard found a bone fragment while patrolling the residential school area and the bone was tested. The fragment was dated to approximately 1898..“The bone fragment has been aged to be about 125 years old, which puts us in the first school era. So that brings us back to about 1898. So, this is physical evidence, physical proof of an unmarked grave,” said Starr..“We just need a little bit of time to kind of get the technology together and get the analysis working together. And we can look at something probably once it warms up a little bit in the spring and summer. So that’s that’s a plan.”.The LIIS operated under different names over its more than 100 years of operation, including Qu’appelle, St. Paul’s, and Whitecalf..Starr called for a search of the school site, as the community members look to find relatives who did not return home..It took months of preparation to start searching for unmarked graves and on the first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021, there was a smudge walk of the school site..Part of the preparation included “lessons and stories from the past” and consulting elders to help find who might be buried at the LIIS..In November 2021, the GPR searches began and more than 55 acres need to be searched, including areas once owned by the LIIS, which are now privately owned..It was expected to take at least three years to complete the search..LIIS operated from 1884 until 1998. It was one of the last residential schools to discontinue operations in Saskatchewan.
Star Blanket Cree Nation (SBCN) used using ground penetrating radar (GPR) and discovered more than 2,000 “places of interest” that could be unmarked graves..SBCN Chief Michael Starr addressed the public with members of the community and the SBCN Indian Residential School Ground Search Project Committee in the gym of the former Lebret Indian Industrial School (LIIS), about 75 km northeast of Regina.. Star Blanket Cree Nation Press Conference .The gym is the only part of the LIIS still standing, which is currently a “gathering centre” for the SBCN’s activities..Starr said they knew something was happening at the residential school, but did not know what..“Because we were aware of the things that were happening in the past,” said Starr. .“We didn’t know exactly what was happening. But we knew something happened.”.“It was sad. It was hurtful. And it made us very angry. What had happened to our young people.”.While SBCN waited for funding, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) bankrolled the project..The GPR worked better on frozen ground to help with the search..“During the winter months, [it] had actually been really really easy because that GPR signal likes to travel through frozen ground better than warm, moist ground,” said Starr..However, GPR is not perfect. There are over 2,000 “places of interest,” but that does not mean they are unmarked graves, according to Starr..“We acquired over 2,000 confirmed hits,” said Starr..“Does that mean there’s 2,000 unmarked graves? We don’t think so. Because there’s anomalies … GPR can’t definitively say … It could be a stone and it can be a combo of gravel. It could be a piece of wood, or it could actually be something. We don’t know yet. All we know is that there’s over 2,000 of them.”.A security guard found a bone fragment while patrolling the residential school area and the bone was tested. The fragment was dated to approximately 1898..“The bone fragment has been aged to be about 125 years old, which puts us in the first school era. So that brings us back to about 1898. So, this is physical evidence, physical proof of an unmarked grave,” said Starr..“We just need a little bit of time to kind of get the technology together and get the analysis working together. And we can look at something probably once it warms up a little bit in the spring and summer. So that’s that’s a plan.”.The LIIS operated under different names over its more than 100 years of operation, including Qu’appelle, St. Paul’s, and Whitecalf..Starr called for a search of the school site, as the community members look to find relatives who did not return home..It took months of preparation to start searching for unmarked graves and on the first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021, there was a smudge walk of the school site..Part of the preparation included “lessons and stories from the past” and consulting elders to help find who might be buried at the LIIS..In November 2021, the GPR searches began and more than 55 acres need to be searched, including areas once owned by the LIIS, which are now privately owned..It was expected to take at least three years to complete the search..LIIS operated from 1884 until 1998. It was one of the last residential schools to discontinue operations in Saskatchewan.
