Survivor has advice for officials probing possible graves at former residential school: 'Keep digging'

Warning: this story contains disturbing content 

Elaine Durocher, a Métis survivor of the St. Philip's Residential School, in Keeseekoose, Sask. was enrolled in the institution in the mid-1960s as a day student.

A child of the Sixties Scoop, she was born in Buffalo Narrows, Sask., more than 600 kilometres away from Keeseekoose. Durocher spent time with an adopted family before her mother was able to take her back into her care. She lived with her stepfather in Keeseekoose when she entered the residential school.

Though Durocher didn't live at the institution 24 hours a day as some of her "residential" peers, she knows firsthand the worst horrors experienced by those who were taken into the residential school system because of the time she spent there. 

She previously shared her experiences of sexual assault and abuse she experienced at the hands of teachers and peers through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The commission found sexual abuse was widespread at the institution in Keeseekoose through the 1960s.

Durocher says the 54 potential grave sites found through the survey conducted at Keeseekoose shows her the number of missing children due to the residential school system is much higher than previously assumed.

"If you say 54 at St. Philip's, why don't you say 5,400; they had three reserves to pick and choose from, who they wanted. They had Key reserve, Cote reserve and Keeseekoose reserve," Durocher said. 

WATCH| Ground-penetrating radar has located 54 potential burial sites near former residential schools:

The institution opened its doors in 1928 and closed in 1969. Historical documents show that through its peak in the 1960s, the years when Durocher attended, there were 132 residential students — those living at the school — enrolled at St. Philip's. 

Though somewhat speaking in hyperbole given the institution's historical enrolment numbers, if Tuesday's announced survey results are proven to be grave sites, Durocher's point about under-reported deaths at the school stands.

The national memorial for those who died at residential schools showed two children, Camilla Bertha Whitehawk and Alfred Whitehawk, died at St. Philip's Residential School in 1962 and 1965 respectively.

Records showed the school was opened in 1928 and a new building was opened in the late 1950s.

A previous rendition of the school, the Fort Pelly School, was established in 1895 and started receiving federal funding in the early 1900s.