Ninety-three possible unmarked graves have been discovered at a graveyard on the site of the former Beauval Indian Residential School. This number is up from the original estimate of 83, announced on August 8th. Sixteen northern communities had sent their children to the school, which was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1906 to 1969.

Dawn McIntyre, head of the ground-penetrating radar or GPR investigation, says 79 of the graves are believed to belong to children, and 14 to infants. McIntyre was joined at the Tuesday news conference by English River First Nation Chief Jenny Wolverine, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron, and Treaty Commissioner Mary Culbertson, among others.

Chief Bobby Cameron was one of many to call on the federal government, asking for wellness and healing centres to be built on these discovery sites, for residential school records to be made public information, and for Justin Trudeau to focus on his own backyard.

“No disrespect to the country of Ukraine, but we have a lot of problems here in our region of Canada… here in our traditional territories. We have big problems. If one of you can reach out to Justin Trudeau, or if you get a chance, tell him we have problems here that need to be addressed,” Cameron stated.

Chief Wolverine stated that she is tired of hearing the apologies for the cultural genocide and hopes that action is taken soon to move towards reconciliation. Moving forward, additional areas near the site will be checked for more children and infants that didn’t return home.