More than 67 children are confirmed to have died at the Alberni Indian Residential School according to reserachers, and 17 possible burial sites were found by ground-penetrating radar.
That according to Tseshaht Chief Councillor Ken Watts who released the results of their recent study into child deaths at the institution.
“Some of those students weren’t even recognized with names. They weren’t even given the respect to have their name displayed when they passed,” he said. “Some of those were given just their first name or their last name, and then there’s a number where their full names are, and we do now know more about the students that passed, not just how they passed, but where they’re actually buried as well.”
Children were sent to Alberni from throughout the province, as far away as the BC-Yukon border, to the institution that was run by the Prebyterian and United Church along with the Government of Canada from 1882 to 1973.
Watts is demanding funding from the government and churches to expand the search this summer.
“If you can put the money to build those buildings and run them, then you can put the money towards us doing all of this research and scanning,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to pay a dollar out of our own pockets to host any of this, and that was part of our call to truth and justice today. Canada needs to not only fund us next year, we need to have long-term funding agreements from not just Canada but others that makes sure there’s certainty because it’s not sustainable right now.”
Lead Researcher Shari Meding said survivors of the institution helped unearth the names of children who disappeared, and where to look for possible burial sites.
“We wanted to answer: who were these children who died, how many of them died, what was the cause of death, where are they buried,” she said. “Many spoke about forced abortions, multiple different burial locations without grave markers, finding skulls and human skeletal remains around the grounds as students. The survivors told us where to look and they were correct. They knew multiple locations.”
Children died of small pox, measles, tuberculosis and abuse, and were also subjected to medical and dietary experimentation.
Only 12% of the 100 hectares around the site was surveyed this past summer, and while exhumation is not currently part of discussions, the information they’ve discovered will be delivered to the families of the deceased, before consulting with families, survivors, and Tseshaht members before deciding on next steps.
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