A 'comprehensive plan in place' for searching former Sask. residential school sites after feds pledge nearly $5M
The Government of Canada has announced funding to help search for unmarked burial sites at Saskatchewan’s former residential schools.
It’s providing $4.88 million to the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) to help gather knowledge about the sites and support any necessary ceremonies.
“We acknowledge the ongoing impact of intergenerational trauma. We must never forget the tragic history of residential schools,” said Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.
The announcement comes less than a week after the province promised $2 million to help.
“We do have a comprehensive plan in place…and we will be working closely with each of our member nations that have had sites,” said David Pratt, second Vice Chief of FSIN .
Pratt said on top of the searching, more services are going to be needed to help people heal from the trauma.
“We say we’re alright, but we know it's still inside us, inside our hearts,” said Chief of Fishing Lake First Nation Derek Sunshine.
“Obviously, mental health supports, addictions, the list goes on and on in terms of the those supports that we’re going to be needing moving forward,” said Pratt.
Eddie Bitternose grew up on Muskowekwan First Nation and is already aware that there are bodies buried around the former Muscowequan Indian Residential School.
The former Muscowequan Indian Residential School building still stands on the Muskowekwan First Nation (Colton Wiens/CTV News)
The former Muscowequan Indian Residential School building still stands on the Muskowekwan First Nation (Colton Wiens/CTV News)
“I think working with my dad, we pulled out our first box when I was about 12,” said Eddie Bitternose, who attended Gordon’s and Muscowequan Indian Residential School and Lebret (Qu’Appelle) Indian Industrial Residential School. “The priest at that time reburied it up on the hill...”
Bitternose said at the time, it was almost normal to come across a grave and go and tell the priest. He remembers finding seven or eight more graves while doing construction one summer.
“Then we’d have a little burial ceremony up on the hill and the day went on,” Bitternose said.
A 2018 study of the land around Muscowequan discovered 35 grave sites, but it only covered a small portion of the area. With the new funding, the entire area will be searched, and Bitternose expects more graves will be found.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.