Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation claims potential 'unmarked graves' at residential school site near Grande Prairie

A First Nation group in Northern Alberta are now claiming dozens of children died at an Alberta Residential School between 1907 and 1961, with potentially 62 unmarked graves residing at the location. The Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation says it has evidence 82 children died while attending the Sturgeon Lake Residential School, also known as the St. Francois Xavier boarding school, which was located in the Grande Prairie region, as reported by Global News. They say of the community's 202 children that went missing at the time, they are "confident" the 82 children have been located and may be in 62 unmarked graves at the site. Reported by APTN News, Gloria Larocque, a research coordinator at the University of Alberta, which conducted ground searches at the site, says some of the children will be difficult to locate without proper records, since several of the children were renamed. .“We were able to confirm the 82 school-aged children, with death records aged between seven and 16,” Sturgeon Lake Chief Sheldon Sunshine stated.According to the testimony of elders and records, some of the 202 children who attended the school may have been outside the school-age range.“We can’t verify yet until we do the more detailed research on which of those children entered prior to age seven and which stayed later, so the number, 82, could be double that,” stated Larocque.The Western Standard talked with Dr. Frances Widdowson, an ex-professor at Mount Royal University, who studied Canadian Aboriginal policy, and is widely known for debating students on Canadian university campuses on the lack of evidence for the Kamloops "graves.".While studying the site of the BC Kamloops 215 "graves," which were claimed to have been detected by a ground-penetrating radar (GPR), and for which $12 million was given by the feds for excavating the graves, which they still haven't found.Widdowson says the only way to confirm the graves exist is to excavate."You have to excavate, that's the only way that you can determine whether there are remains is through excavation."Widdowson says she has had "quite a few discussions, and did an actual ground-penetrating radar survey (GPR) myself with a geoscientist, and we did excavate."Widdowson goes on to state if the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation did a GPR to detect the graves, the radar is "non-unique."."That means that you get a signal, it's sort of a parabola shape — it's like a curved shape — and that's it coming into some kind of contact with either a change in soil density, rocks, a pipe, or something.""So it could be a variety of things that cause that signal on the GPR machine, and you have to excavate to be able to determine what that object is."No excavation has occurred yet and the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has stated the RCMP refused to investigate the remains on the property.According to Global News, the nation deemed their refusal as "negligent and institutional racism.".In response, the RCMP stated, "It is not solely the decision of the Alberta RCMP to proceed with further study of the grounds — many governmental, and cultural groups need to be consulted before exhumations occur."As for what the feds are doing, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada has stated it is actively working with Sturgeon Lake to review progress and discuss the nation's needs.“Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada provided Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation with $2,174,150 in funding for 2024-25 and 2025-26 to further their initiative,” stated a feds spokesperson.As for whether the Alberta government will be contributing to the excavation costs, the Western Standard reached out to Rajan Sawhney, Minister of Indigenous Relations, who suggested this is unlikely.."In Alberta, efforts to identify, research, and commemorate residential school sites are indigenous-led, and we respect communities’ leadership in this important work, " stated Sawhney."Alberta’s government has supported these efforts, including through the $8 million Residential Schools Community Research Grant, which benefited 43 indigenous communities and organizations."This money was given to Alberta First Nations back in 2021, which allowed each indigenous community to qualify for up to $150,000 worth of the grant.Sturgeon Lake has stated it will "discuss" how it will handle possible unmarked burial sites.

Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation claims potential 'unmarked graves' at residential school site near Grande Prairie

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