Potential remains found in 93 spots at B.C. residential school, but some children will be unaccounted for even after investigation

Warning: This article contains details that readers may find disturbing.
An initial report into an investigation at a former residential school in British Columbia suggests the remains of dozens of people may be buried at the site. Preliminary results of a geophysical examination at the site of the former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School were released during a news conference Tuesday, and included 93 “reflections” observed through ground-penetrating radar. A section of the first 14 hectares examined was also used as a cemetery at some point. Those involved in the investigation are working to understand how the burials correlate with the cemetery. Current data suggests 50 of the 93 potential burials are not associated with known graves, meaning they may be unmarked graves associated with the school.
The only way to tell whether those sites do, in fact, contain human remains is exhumation, and next steps are still being discussed, but human remains, caskets and graves can all produce reflections, project lead Whitney Spearing said during a presentation on the initial findings.
The property located near the Williams Lake First Nation operated as a school between 1891 and 1981. The site went by several names during that time, including the Cariboo Indian Industrial School. A farm and ranch were added to the Catholic Oblates’ holdings at the site in the 1960s, and were used to sustain the school and staff. Thousands of Indigenous children were forced to attend the school during that time. Those behind Tuesday’s presentation called it “one small snapshot” into the ongoing investigation, and that the results are preliminary at this stage. Research in Phase 1 included the geophysical examination as well as archival and photographic research and survivor interviews.
Source: bc.ctvnews.ca