Team working to identify residential school graves connects with MKO nations whose children were taken south

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

Sioux Valley Dakota Nation councillor Michelle Rosmus knows first-hand how emotionally draining the search for unmarked graves at former residential school sites can be.

She is always ready with a hug, because she knows the loss and trauma created by the schools is felt by Indigenous people across Canada. Rosumus says coming together helps people feel like they are not alone in their grief.

"When you talk about Indian residential schools, it's a topic that is very touchy," says Rosmus, who holds the Nation's portfolio for Indian residential schools. 

"No matter where you are, no matter where you're sitting … when you're giving a presentation and talking and bringing up these experiences, there are emotions that are felt."

She and the Sioux Valley Dakota Nations Residential School Missing Children's Investigation project team were in The Pas, Man., at the end of February speaking to Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak nations. During a roundtable, Sioux Valley provided updates on the continued search for unmarked graves at the site of the former Brandon Residential School.

The majority of children at the school were taken from northern Manitoba. In the MKO region, there are eight communities affected by the Brandon Residential School.

Chief David Monias of the Pimicikamak Cree Nation was part of these conversations.

He says Sioux Valley's work to find unmarked graves is fuelling an emotional, but healing conversation. The stories shared by the First Nation impact everyone, Monias says, because everyone is connected to the children in unmarked graves and the trauma of residential schools.

"We're all walking wounded from the experiences of residential school and day school," Monias said. "You can't just open up and not be able to deal with it but there has to be some kind of a healing or grieving ... every time."

Rosmus shook his hand and thanked him for sharing his story and his community's experiences after the roundtable. She says they ended the conversation in an embrace.

"As Indigenous people, whether you're a Cree, Ojibwe or Dakota, we're connected when it comes to those emotions ... residential schools have done that to us," Rosmus said. "It's important that we support one another."

Katherine Nichols is the current manager for Sioux Valley's Residential School Missing Children's Investigation. The Nation, located about 50 kilometres west of Brandon, began the project more than a decade ago and is working to identify the names of children who died at the Brandon Residential School while it was in operation from 1895 to 1972 in southwestern Manitoba.

The First Nation, which owns the land where the residential school once stood, wants to identify all children who died there. They've identified 104 potential graves in three cemeteries, but only 78 are accounted for through historical records.