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 burials of seven people have been discovered on Mission Island outside Fort Resolution.
The First Nation stated in a Thursday press release that the graves of seven people, including five children, had been uncovered on the island. The identity of the children and the circumstances surrounding their deaths have yet to be determined.
The First Nation has been investigating missing children and unmarked burials associated with St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Residential School since 2022.
A search of Mission Island had begun on the advice of the late Angus Beaulieu and other Elders who attended the residential school, the First Nation said, after they described spending time on the island in the summer.
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The First Nation said a mission school ran on the island from 1857 to 1890 before the school was moved to Fort Resolution. That school operated until 1903 before construction of St Joseph’s began.
St Joseph’s became fully operational in 1910, at the same time as the Fort Resolution cemetery.
“While growing up I heard stories of children who were mistreated at the school. Children who got sick and died because of malnutrition or abuse,” Chief Louis Balsillie stated.
“I am committed to continuing our investigation into what happened at the schools to bring about so many deaths.”
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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.
The Deninu Kųę́ First Nation has been critical of the NWT government’s regulatory framework for addressing residential school burial sites.
The territorial government has said it is working to update its Archaeological Sites Act and committed to consulting with Indigenous governments regarding the return of children who died at St Joseph’s Residential School.
