WARNING: this story involves details of residential schools and may be distressing for some readers.
Work is ongoing on a parcel of land where potential graves of Residential School Students could be located, but it will take some time yet before any concrete answers are found.
In a press release summary of work being done on the land belonging to Agency One located east of Fort Frances, the Agency One First Nations Lands Limited Partnership announced the first leg of their investigation has come up with a number of notable hits which are not consistent with graves, but more work will need to be done to determine what, if anything, is buried there.
The work has been ongoing since late summer when the area belonging to Agency One First Nation Partnership located along Highway 11 and School Road was cleared of vegetation to prepare for investigative surveying and assessment for the possibility of unmarked graves of students from the St. Margaret’s/Fort Frances Residential School. According to the Agency One press release, the investigation has been “extensive” and has included interviews with former students or their families, archival research, archeological monitoring of areas that were cleared of vegetation and several different technological assessments. Included in those assessment techniques are;
- Electromagnetic survey (EM) which uses an electric current passed through the ground and measures the response of the current as it travels back out of the ground, determining the conductivity and resistivity of certain zones within the survey area. Resistive zones return a weaker response, where conductive zones return a stronger response, according to ScienceDirect.com, and the data received can help technicians determine if there are abnormalities or inconsistencies below the ground
- Ground penetrating radar (GPR) which works by sending an electromagnetic wave into the ground and sensing the rate the wave is reflected back to the unit. The resulting readout can be difficult to decipher by untrained eyes, but can give indications of the size and shape of an anomaly or disturbance in the ground
- Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) which transmits a laser light as it moves over the ground, or even above the ground from an aerial vehicle, and registers the rate at which the laser is reflected back to the transmitter. LiDAR technology measures elevations, owing to the consistent speed of light, and can be used to quickly map out an area with accurate changes in elevation that would be difficult to determine, if not outright impossible, with the naked eye
According to the Agency One release, the investigation is likely to continue for several years, but preliminary data has been returned from only a portion of the land that was surveyed in 2023.
In a summary of the data received so far, Agency One noted that there have been “no possible burials with ‘typical’ characteristics of a burial,” which would mean disturbances detected that would be in line with a grave found at the Our Lady of Lourdes Church. for example. However, Agency One does note that some hits they received from the assessments will warrant further investigation.
“We understand that not all unmarked graves associated with the residential school are going to be typical,” Agency One stated.
“There are eighteen (18) areas we would like to investigate further and have requested the assistance of an archaeologist. The eighteen areas are not necessarily consistent with graves but do represent buried objects or disturbances to the soil. Beyond an unmarked grave, the buried objects or disturbances could represent items such as discarded farm implements or even archaeological sites. Survivors and leaders have advised us to be thorough, therefore the work will continue in the new year as soon as possible with results to follow.”
The press release notes that there is still a considerable amount of data to process, and more results from the initial round of surveys are expected at the end of February 2024.
Support is available for any survivors of residential schools, as well as those affected by more recent reports. The National Residential School Crisis Line has been established to provide emotional support and crisis referral services 24 hours a day by calling 1-866-925-4419.
