Mass Graves at Residential Schools found in Canada

Breaking News:
Location of Mass Graves of Residential School
Children Revealed for the First Time;

Independent Tribunal Established

Squamish Nation Territory ("Vancouver,

Canada")Thursday, April 10, 2008 11:00 am PST

At a public ceremony and press conference

held today outside the colonial "Indian Affairs"

building in downtown Vancouver, the Friends

and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD)

released a list of twenty eight mass graves

across Canada holding the remains of untold

numbers of aboriginal children who died in

Indian Residential Schools.

The list was distributed today to the world

media and to United Nations agencies, as the

first act of the newly-formed International

Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada

(IHRTGC), a non-governmental body established

by indigenous elders.

In a statement read by FRD spokesperson Eagle

Strong Voice, it was declared that the IHRTGC

would commence its investigations on April 15,

2008, the fourth Annual Aboriginal Holocaust

Memorial Day. This inquiry will involve international

human rights observers from Guatemala and

Cyprus , and will convene aboriginal courts of

justice where those persons and institutions

responsible for the death and suffering of

residential school children will be tried and

sentenced. (The complete Statement and List

of Mass Graves is reproduced below).

Eagle Strong Voice and IHRTGC elders will

present the Mass Graves List at the United

Nations on April 19, and will ask United Nations

agencies to protect and monitor the mass

graves as part of a genuine inquiry and judicial

prosecution of those responsible for this

Canadian Genocide.

Eyewitness Sylvester Greene spoke to the

media at today's event, and described how

he helped bury a young Inuit boy at the

United Church's Edmonton residential school

in 1953.



"We were told never to tell anyone by Jim

Ludford, the Principal, who got me and three

other boys to bury him. But a lot more kids got

buried all the time in that big grave next to the

school."



For more information:

www.hiddenfromhistory.org, or write to the

IHRTGC at: genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca

Issued on Squamish Territory , 10 April, 2008,

under the authority of Hereditary Chief Kiapilano.
.........................................................................

Press Statement: April 10, 2008



Mass Graves of Residential School Children

Identified - Independent Inquiry Launched

We are gathered today to publicly disclose the

location of twenty eight mass graves of children

who died in Indian Residential Schools across

Canada , and to announce the formation of an

independent, non-governmental inquiry into the

death and disappearance of children in these

schools.



We estimate that there are hundreds, and

possibly thousands, of children buried in these

grave sites alone.



The Catholic, Anglican and United Church , and

the government of Canada, operated the schools

and hospitals where these mass graves are

located. We therefore hold these institutions and

their officers legally responsible and liable for the

deaths of these children.



We have no confidence that the very institutions

of church and state that are responsible for these

deaths can conduct any kind of impartial or real

inquiry into them. Accordingly, as of April 15, 2008,

we are establishing an independent, non-

governmental inquiry into the death and

disappearance of Indian residential school children

across Canada .



This inquiry shall be known as The International

Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada

(IHRTGC), and is established under the authority

of the following hereditary chiefs, who shall serve

as presiding judges of the Tribunal:



Hereditary Chief Kiapilano of the Squamish Nation

Chief Louis Daniels (Whispers Wind), Anishinabe

Nation Chief Svnoyi Wohali (Night Eagle),

Cherokee Nation

Lillian Shirt, Clan Mother, Cree Nation

Elder Ernie Sandy, Anishinabe (Ojibway) Nation

Hereditary Chief Steve Sampson, Chemainus Nation
Ambassador Chief Red Jacket of Turtle Island



Today, we are releasing to this Tribunal and to

the people of the world the enclosed information

on the location of mass graves connected to

Indian residential schools and hospitals in order

to prevent the destruction of this crucial evidence

by the Canadian government, the RCMP and the

Anglican, Catholic and United Church of Canada.

We call upon indigenous people on the land where

these graves are located to monitor and protect

these sites vigilantly, and prevent their destruction

by occupational forces such as the RCMP and other

government agencies.



Our Tribunal will commence on April 15 by

gathering all of the evidence, including forensic

remains, that is necessary to charge and indict

those responsible for the deaths of the children

buried therein.



Once these persons have been identified and

detained, they will be tried and sentenced in

indigenous courts of justice established by our

Tribunal and under the authority of hereditary

chiefs.



As a first step in this process, the IHRTGC will

present this list of mass graves along with a

statement to the United Nations in New York City

on April 19, 2008. The IHRTGC will be asking the

United Nations to declare these mass graves to

be protected heritage sites, and will invite

international human rights observers to monitor

and assist its work.



Issued by the Elders and Judges of the IHRTGC

Interim Spokesperson: Eagle Strong Voice

Email: genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca pager:

1-888-265-1007



IHRTGC Sponsors include The Friends and

Relatives of the Disappeared, The Truth

Commission into Genocide in Canada, the

Defensoria Indigenia of Guatemala, Canadians

for the Separation of Church and State, and a

confederation of indigenous elders across

Canada and Turtle Island.

..................................................................................................

Mass Graves at former Indian Residential

Schools and Hospitals across Canada



A. British Columbia



1. Port Alberni: Presbyterian-United Church

school (1895-1973), now occupied by the

Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council (NTC) office,

Kitskuksis Road . Grave site is a series of

sinkhole rows in hills 100 metres due west of

the NTC building, in thick foliage, past an unused

water pipeline. Children also interred at

Tseshaht reserve cemetery, and in wooded

gully east of Catholic cemetery on River Road .



2. Alert Bay : St. Michael's Anglican school

(1878-1975), situated on Cormorant Island

offshore from Port McNeill. Presently building

is used by Namgis First Nation. Site is an

overgrown field adjacent to the building, and

also under the foundations of the present new

building, constructed during the 1960's.

Skeletons seen "between the walls".



3. Kuper Island: Catholic school (1890-1975),

offshore from Chemainus. Land occupied by

Penelakut Band. Former building is destroyed

except for a staircase. Two grave sites: one

immediately south of the former building, in a

field containing a conventional cemetery;

another at the west shoreline in a lagoon near

the main dock.



4. Nanaimo Indian Hospital: Indian Affairs

and United Church experimental facility

(1942-1970) on Department of National

Defense land. Buildings now destroyed. Grave

sites are immediately east of former buildings

on Fifth avenue , adjacent to and south of

Malaspina College .



5. Mission: St. Mary's Catholic school

(1861-1984), adjacent to and north of

Lougheed Highway and Fraser River Heritage

Park . Original school buildings are destroyed,

but many foundations are visible on the

grounds of the Park.



In this area there are two grave sites:

a) immediately adjacent to former girls'

dormitory and present cemetery for priests,

and a larger mass grave in an artificial

earthen mound, north of the cemetery among

overgrown foliage and blackberry bushes, and

b) east of the old school grounds, on the hilly

slopes next to the field leading to the newer

school building which is presently used by the

Sto:lo First Nation. Hill site is 150 metres west

of building.



6. North Vancouver: Squamish (1898-1959)

and Sechelt (1912-1975) Catholic schools,

buildings destroyed. Graves of children who

died in these schools interred in the Squamish

Band Cemetery , North Vancouver .



7. Sardis: Coqualeetza Methodist-United

Church school (1889-1940), then experimental

hospital run by federal government (1940-1969).

Native burial site next to Sto:lo reserve and Little

Mountain school, also possibly adjacent to former

school-hospital building.



8. Cranbrook: St. Eugene Catholic school

(1898-1970), recently converted into a tourist

"resort" with federal funding, resulting in the

covering-over of a mass burial site by a golf

course in front of the building. Numerous grave

sites are around and under this golf course.

9. Williams Lake : Catholic school

(1890-1981), buildings destroyed but

foundations intact, five miles south of city.

Grave sites reported north of school grounds

and under foundations of tunnel-like structure.

10. Meares Island (Tofino): Kakawis-Christie

Catholic school (1898-1974). Buildings

incorporated into Kakawis Healing Centre.

Body storage room reported in basement,

adjacent to burial grounds south of school.



11. Kamloops : Catholic school (1890-1978).

Buildings intact. Mass grave south of school,

adjacent to and amidst orchard. Numerous

burials witnessed there.



12. Lytton: St. George's Anglican school

(1901-1979). Graves of students flogged

to death, and others, reported under

floorboards and next to playground.

13. Fraser Lake : Lejac Catholic school

(1910-1976), buildings destroyed. Graves

reported under old foundations and

between the walls.



Alberta:



1. Edmonton : United Church school

(1919-1960), presently site of the

Poundmaker Lodge in St. Albert . Graves

of children reported south of former

school site, under thick hedge that runs

north-south, adjacent to memorial marker.



2. Edmonton : Charles Camsell Hospital

(1945-1967), building intact, experimental

hospital run by Indian Affairs and United

Church . Mass graves of children from

hospital reported south of building, near

staff garden.



3. Saddle Lake : Bluequills Catholic school

(1898-1970), building intact, skeletons

and skulls observed in basement furnace.

Mass grave reported adjacent to school.



4. Hobbema: Ermineskin Catholic school

(1916-1973), five intact skeletons

observed in school furnace. Graves under

former building foundations.



Manitoba:



1. Brandon : Methodist-United Church

school (1895-1972). Building intact.

Burials reported west of school building.



2. Portage La Prairie: Presbyterian-

United Church school (1895-1950).

Children buried at nearby Hillside

Cemetery .



3. Norway House: Methodist-United

Church school (1900-1974). "Very old"

grave site next to former school building,

demolished by United Church in 2004.



Ontario:



1. Thunder Bay : Lakehead Psychiatric

Hospital , still in operation. Experimental

centre. Women and children reported

buried adjacent to hospital grounds.



2. Sioux Lookout: Pelican Lake Catholic

school (1911-1973). Burials of children in

mound near to school.



3. Kenora: Cecilia Jeffrey school,

Presbyterian-United Church (1900-1966).

Large burial mound east of former school.



4. Fort Albany : St. Anne's Catholic school

(1936-1964). Children killed in electric chair

buried next to school.



5. Spanish: Catholic school (1883-1965).

Numerous graves.



6. Brantford : Mohawk Institute, Anglican

church (1850-1969), building intact. Series

of graves in orchard behind school building,

under rows of trees.



7. Sault Ste. Marie: Shingwauk Anglican

school (1873-1969), some intact buildings.

Several graves of children reported on

grounds of old school.



Quebec:



1. Montreal : Allan Memorial Institute, McGill

University , still in operation since opening in

1940. MKULTRA experimental centre. Mass

grave of children killed there north of building,

on southern slopes of Mount Royal behind

stone wall.



Sources:

- Eyewitness accounts from survivors of

these institutions, catalogued in Hidden from

History: The Canadian Holocaust

(2nd ed., 2005) by Kevin Annett. Other

accounts are from local residents. See

www.hiddenfromhistory.org .



- Documents and other material from the

Department of Indian Affairs RG 10 microfilm

series on Indian Residential Schools in

Koerner Library, University of B.C.



- Survey data and physical evidence obtained

from grave sites in Port Alberni , Mission , and

other locations.



This is a partial list and does not include all of

the grave sites connected to Indian

residential Schools and hospitals across

Canada. In many cases, children who were

dying of diseases were sent home to die by

school and church officials, and the remains

of other children who died at the school were

incinerated in the residential school furnaces.

This information is submitted by The Friends

and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) to the

world media, the United Nations, and to the

International Human Rights Tribunal into

Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC). The IHRTGC

will commence its investigations on April 15,

2008 on Squamish Nation territory.



For more information on the independent

inquiry into genocide in Canada being

conducted by the IHRTGC, write to:

genocidetribunal@yahoo.ca

10 April, 2008

Squamish Nation Territory (" Vancouver ,

Canada ")



Posted by Mohawk Nation News

www.mohawknationnews.com