Warning: This story contains mention of residential school burial sites that may be distressing to some readers. If you need support, the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line can be reached 24 hours a day by calling 1-866-925-4419.
The Deninu Kųę́ First Nation says the NWT government is impeding its efforts to repatriate children who never returned home from residential school.
In a letter to Premier RJ Simpson that was shared online last week, Chief Louis Balsillie said the territorial government was improperly applying the NWT’s Archaeological Sites Act to residential school burial sites.
According to that letter, the First Nation was advised to submit an archaeology permit to exhume and return to families the remains of children who died while attending St Joseph’s Residential School in Fort Resolution.
Chief Balsillie said applying that regulatory framework would be a continuation of colonial practices and policies that “have caused immeasurable harm” to Indigenous people.
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“Our children are not artifacts. The Indigenous communities whose children attended St Joseph’s Residential School have a right to have their loved ones repatriated and buried alongside their family members in their home communities and follow cultural protocols that align with Indigenous ways of knowing and being,” Balsillie wrote.
“The Elders who are requesting the return of their siblings, aunts and uncles so they can be buried beside their parents are quickly passing.”
The chief said that work would be better suited to the coroner’s office.
A spokesperson for Premier Simpson said in a statement to Cabin Radio that he was reviewing the First Nation’s concerns and wanted to directly respond to Chief Balsillie before commenting publicly.
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Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon, whose district includes Fort Resolution, raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
Edjericon shared the story of a young girl named Alma who, he said, died at St Joseph’s when she was just five years old. He said Alma’s now 88-year-old sister had promised their mother she would bring Alma’s remains back to Fort Smith for a proper burial.
“A rotting cross with Alma’s nameplate was found in the Fort Resolution cemetery along with other children’s crosses and nameplates,” he said. “Alma’s sister was informed and immediately asked when Alma could be brought back to the burial site of her mother.”
Edjericon said two branches of the NWT government appear to be at odds on how to proceed. While the coroner’s office has offered to help and the Coroner’s Act includes provisions for the exhumation of remains, he said the archeology department has classified residential school burials as artifacts.
“There are currently investigations into the cause of the death of these children and why they were buried. But in the meantime, Alma’s remains must be returned home,” he said.
“We need to make exceptions so that Indigenous children and culture and traditions are upheld and the remains of these children are treated with the utmost respect.”
Caitlin Cleveland, the minister of education, culture and employment, told Edjericon the territory’s justice department had provided the legal opinion that the Archaeological Sites Act includes ancestral remains.
The minister said the territorial government is currently in the process of updating that act, in consultation with Indigenous governments.
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Cleveland committed to “work as quickly as possible” to address remaining “decision points” and carry out consultation with Indigenous governments regarding the return of children who died at St Joseph’s Residential School.
“That is what is ultimately the most important here,” she said.
“We know children across the territory were removed from their homes, so the children who are buried there may be from other traditional territories as well and we need to ensure that we’re respectful of that.”
According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, St Joseph’s Mission School was built by the Roman Catholic church in 1903 and operated until 1957.
Throughout its history, the centre said, the school experienced periodic fires, outbreaks of illness, an acetylene gas plant explosion and food shortages. Inspection reports in the 1940s and 1950s noted the dilapidated state of the school buildings.
The centre’s memorial register currently lists 75 students who died while attending the residential school.
Deninu Kųę́ First Nation began an investigation into missing children and unmarked burials associated with St Joseph’s in 2022.
