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10 000

In the spring of 2023, Kapawe'no First Nation on the northwest edge of Lesser Slave Lake, announced the results of ground-penetrating radar indicating 169 more potential graves found at the St. Bernard (Grouard) Mission School. 

This brings the known total of possible grave sites of residential school students to over 10, 000.  This total is the reflection of the announced results of ground penetrating radar between 2021 and 2023 from 18 different Indigenous communities from British Columbia to Ontario where residential schools were situated. (1) 

There are 139 residential schools that are recognised by the federal government.  These schools (the ones generally referred to in the media) would have been funded by the federal government and/or churches.  There are many more that are not accounted for in the 'official' numbers as they were funded by provincial governments or local churches/communities but they all had the same mandate; assimilation. 

Total of inferred graves to date: over 10 000

Total number of communities in Canada with recognised residential schools: 139

Total number of communities searched: 18...

            ...13%

87% of the recognised Canadian residential schools have not gone through the process of searching with ground penetrating radar.  And we are already at 10 000.

150 000 Indigenous children are recorded as having attended residential schools in Canada between 1894 and 1996.  7% of those students (10, 000) are assumed buried at these same schools given current data. As I try to wrap my head around these figures, I wonder what 7% of the student population in my community is. 

I'm just going to leave that thought with you.  

(1) Wikipedia; Canadian Indian Residential School Gravesites. July 2023

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