As many as 4,500 native children died at schools set up across the country
Another 114 possible unmarked graves thought to belong to children have been found at the former McIntosh Indian Residential School in northern Ontario, Canada, a search team reported Thursday.
“Seven inscribed burial monuments were known to be located within the historical cemetery area,” the Wiikwogaming Tiinahtiisiiwin Project Team said in a press release.
“The visual survey documented an additional 114 unmarked burial features, with 106 situated within the historical cemetery area and eight elsewhere on former school grounds,” it added.
The school, opened in 1925 and closed in 1969, was run by Roman Catholic missionaries.
“Extensive historical research has uncovered the names of 165 people buried on the Mclntosh IRS (Indian Residential School) property by members of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate who were responsible for the school and the children who attended,” the research team said.
“The majority of the people known to have been interred on the Mclntosh IRS property were children, in addition to some adults from Grassy Narrows First Nation and at least two members of the Oblates school administrators.”
Ground penetrating radar was also used on the school site, and that search method is being used at many former school sites. At the McIntosh school, the findings matched the shape and size associated with graves.
The McIntosh was one of about 130 Indian Residential Schools, many run by the Roman Catholic Church, established in the early 1800s by the government.
The children were forced to attend as the government tried to stamp out native culture and replace it with European white culture.
A significant number were subject to sexual and physical abuse and malnourishment. As many as 4,500 children are estimated to have died, and in some cases, parents were never told what happened to their children.
