Community gathers before Manitoba church basement excavation for unmarked graves begins Wednesday

WARNING: This story includes distressing details.

The excavation of potential unmarked graves near a former residential school is the next step on a journey of trauma and healing, say members of a Manitoba First Nation.

Minegoziibe Anishinabe, also known as Pine Creek First Nation, is working with Brandon University researchers to excavate 14 anomalies found in the basement of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Catholic Church using ground-penetrating radar last year. The church sits beside the former Pine Creek Residential School.

Nation member Brenda Catcheway has been part of the search for unmarked graves since it first began. She says the search is part of the story of Minegoziibe Anishinabe, located about 320 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, because the residential school left traumas that have lasted generations.

"I'm just happy with the stage that we are at and happy that I'm going to be here to complete it," Catcheway said. 

She was at the church grounds Monday providing a community update on the ongoing search. Her focus was on sharing information about the excavation while ensuring community wellness as the investigation continues.

Catcheway says excavations begin Wednesday and will take a month to complete.

If unmarked graves are found, then remains would be identified using carbon dating, DNA testing and the school's student registry.

Catcheway's grandmother and mother were sent to the residential school and she attended the day school located nearby.

Her grandmother worried about sending Catcheway to the facility because of the horrors she faced at the residential school, Catcheway said. She fought to keep Catcheway out of the day school for as long as possible so she would be old enough "to protect herself."

"She would share stories with me," Catcheway said. "I used to just think she was telling me scary stories, but I think we're coming down to the truth that she was telling me real stories."

An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools in Canada. 

The Pine Creek school was run by the Roman Catholic Church which operated from 1890 to 1969 in different buildings, including the church, on a large plot of land. 

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a record of 21 child deaths at the school, and survivors have long spoken about abuses at the facility.