An initial sweep of the former grounds of St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C., has uncovered 93 possible burial sites.Williams Lake First Nation Kúkpi7 Willie Sellars and councillors released the first-phase geophysical findings Tuesday, after launching its land survey with ground-penetrating radar in June.“This journey has led our investigation team into the darkest recesses of human behaviour,” said Sellars. “Our team has recorded not only stories involving the murder and disappearance of children and infants, they have listened to countless stories of systematic torture, starvation, rape and sexual assault of children at St.
Joseph’s Mission.”The findings were shared with the chiefs of all impacted nations ahead of time in a private meeting earlier on Tuesday — a “critical milestone” in the path to reconciliation, said Sellars.The 93 possible burial sites are “reflections” or anomalies detected by ground-penetrating radar.
Excavation is required to confirm whether they are human remains. ‘The story was hidden’: How residential school graves shocked and shaped Canada in 2021 St.
Joseph’s Mission Residential School operated from 1886 to 1981 and has since been demolished. An additional property, the Onward Ranch, was added in 1964 to support the operational needs of the school.