Next Steps Debated for Unmarked Graves at Canadian Indigenous Schools

VANCOUVER, CANADA - Weeks after the discovery of more than 1,000 probable unmarked graves at now-closed schools for indigenous people, leaders of Canada's First Nations are torn over whether to press for further forensic investigation and the repatriation of remains, or to let the sites be preserved undisturbed.

Indigenous communities have had two months to absorb the shock since the discovery of what appear to be hundreds of unmarked student graves near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School was announced in May.    Scientists used ground penetrating radar to explore the site on the Tk'emlups te Secwépemc First Nation's traditional territory in the western province of British Columbia, where the closed school building still sits. They found 200 anomalies that remain "targets of interest" and probable burials under a present day apple orchard.  Using similar detection methods, hundreds of other probable unmarked graves of students have since been found on property of other closed residential schools across Canada, bringing the total to about 1,300.