Coroner reviews cases of unidentified human remains for links to residential schools
Posted Oct 20, 2021 09:20:00 AM.
Editor’s note: This article contains some disturbing details about experiences at residential schools in Canada and may be upsetting to some readers. For those in need of emotional support, the 24-hour Residential Schools Crisis Line is available at 1-866-925-4419.
Ontario’s chief coroner says his office is embarking on a review of unidentified human remains found in the last four decades to determine if any are linked to former residential schools.
Dr. Dirk Huyer says in many cases, his office has not fully investigated human remains when they are deemed to be more than 50 years old.
He says he’s been reconsidering that approach and now recognizes that his office may have missed identifying graves linked to residential schools in the province.
Huyer says a team from his office will be examining findings that go back to the 1980s to determine if further investigation is required in any of the cases.
Remains of a child under the age of 14 were discovered near the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford, Ont. last year.
Dr. Beverly Jacobs, Indigenous Human Rights Monitor, Survivors’ Secretariat confirms to CityNews the unmarked grave was located near Glenwood Drive when workers were digging for a telephone line in August.
Dr. Jacobs said at this time, they do not know if the youth attended the former Mohawk Residential School.
On Saturday, Brantford Police said the remains are “not modern and do not have any forensic value” and added that no further investigation would be conducted by their officers.
In May, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc, a First Nation in Kamloops, B.C., announced that ground-penetrating radar had detected what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school.
Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan revealed a similar finding of more than 700 unmarked graves a month later.
