“This is contemporary history, we’re talking about,” said Joseph Daniels, of the search committee.
GEORGE GORDON FIRST NATION — Survey work on George Gordon First Nation has identified eight additional anomalies that could be unmarked graves near the former site of an Indian Residential School.
In a solemn announcement Friday, search committee chair Sarah Longman shared the report with the public inside the old gymnasium once attached to the school.
On the wall across the room to her right, hung several discreet white sheets of paper with the names of former students who never came home — a memorial to those whose whereabouts remain unknown.
“This is our legacy. We were the people who attended,” Longman said. “That is why this is such a critical dialogue that is so important for our healing as a country.”
Friday’s announcement marks the conclusion of the second phase of a multi-year search that began in 2021, surveying for potential unmarked graves at the site of the former Gordon’s Indian Residential School.
The first search identified 14 potential anomalies believed to be unmarked graves of students who died while attending the school. Further surveying is needed to confirm the nature of those anomalies, Longman said Friday.
Phase 2 began last fall and was conducted north of the first location.
“I believe that there’s definitely a need to continue the search,” said Chief Shawn Longman. “When you read the reports, and the treatment of those students, they were brutalized and beaten and abused. It was just such a common thing to treat First Nation students this way that I believe there’s has to be a lot more graves that are not yet found.”
“There’s some really deep feelings here,” said Joseph Daniels, a member of the search committee and grandson of a former student, about the emotions felt when they look at the land where the school once sat.
“This is contemporary history, we’re talking about,” given how recently Gordon’s Indian Residential School closed — 1996 — and then quickly torn down, he said.
“This is in our lifetime, that we’re talking about. This isn’t ancient history. And there’s a lot of work still here that is going to take a long time to figure out.”
In the pages of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report, Gordon’s Indian Residential School is mentioned a number of times, especially the school’s history of violence which tracked up until it’s closure in the ’90s.
The school was founded and run by Canada’s Anglican Church until 1946, when the Indian and Eskimo Welfare Commission took over until 1969. The federal government operated the school from 1969 until it closed in 1996, making it the last federally-funded residential school to close its doors in Canada.
The TRC found the school “had a long history of poor management, sexual abuse of students, and complaints that discipline was harsh and abusive.” It found that in the later years of school management “did not control the staff,” which resulted in the “relentless abuse of students.”
Slapping students, belittling their families, banging the heads of students against doors and walls, grabbing them by their hair; all of these practices persisted through the ’90s, according to the TRC.
Former director William Starr was arrested in 1992 and convicted of 10 charges relating to sexual and child abuse stemming from his time at Gordon’s from 1968 to 1984.
Suspected graves have since been identified at Regina’s Industrial School and Muscowequan Indian Residential School, among others.
On George Gordon, Sarah said the committee intends to take a pause for now, to organize next steps. The hope is to continue searching at other locations, as well as in two nearby water bodies, pending the provision of federal funding.
There’s also a vision to commemorate the sites at some point in the future, if the community is in support of the idea.
“We need to give the community a bit of time, to absorb the reality of what we’re dealing with because it is harsh,” Sarah aid. “Most kids grow up with swing sets in their backyards, not bodies. It’s going to take time to process that.”
If you are an Indian Residential School survivor, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.
— with files from Alec Salloum
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