93 potential burial sites found near former B.C. residential school

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.

A survey of a small segment of the land surrounding a former B.C. residential school has identified 93 sites of "potential human burials," according to representatives of a nearby First Nation. 

The chief and council of Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) revealed on Tuesday preliminary findings of their investigation into St. Joseph's Mission Residential School and nearby Onward Ranch, based on a probe of 14 out of 470 hectares that have been identified as areas of interest.

Whitney Spearing, who led the investigation team, said the 93 sites were identified using ground-penetrating radar, along with aerial and terrestrial LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors. She said some may be connected to a known historical cemetery, but 50 appear to have no association with it.

Spearing added that while the 93 sites show "reflections" that suggest human burials, the only way to confirm that would be through excavation.

WLFN Chief Willie Sellars described the findings as part of a "reawakening" for Indigenous people about the lingering traumas of the residential school system.

"This reawakening in Indian country has allowed us to start the process of healing," he said.

WLFN launched the survey after last spring's discovery of potential human burial sites next to the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. 

Sellars said that discovery "forced Canadians to acknowledge the reality of residential schools" and created unprecedented support for efforts to uncover the truth about the systemic abuses supported by the Canadian government, churches and the RCMP.

"There can be no reconciliation before there is truth," he said during a news conference.

Phyllis Webstad, who attended St. Joseph's as a child, described the findings as traumatizing but also validating.

"I have often thought of this day. How will our families and communities ever get through today and the days and years to come? I grieve for all who never made it — the children who never made it home and for survivors and their families who could not keep carrying the pain," she said in a written statement.

Many of the WLFN's members were forced to attend St. Joseph's, which opened in 1891 and operated until 1981. It began as an industrial school and later grew to include Onward Ranch, which was acquired in 1964 to sustain the school.

The vast majority of school buildings have been torn down since its closure four decades ago.