After ‘burial features’ detected on McIntosh residential school grounds, researchers help families get closure – CBC

Jan 22, 2025

Children from First Nations in Ont., Man., Sask., Alta. recorded as buried at property

Members of an Indigenous-led research team that detected 114 “unmarked burial features” on the former property of McIntosh Indian Residential School (IRS) are working to identify people who were buried to help families find closure.

The results released Thursday provide a grim validation of what survivors and their families have been saying for decades: that many Indigenous children forced to attend residential schools like McIntosh died and never made it home.

“There’s a level of sadness overall, I think, with the team, with the community, with the elders, with chief and council, and the nation — the nation should be sad,” said Janalee Jodouin, finance and project consultant for the Wiikwogaming Tiinahtiisiiwin Project Team, which was started by Grassy Narrows First Nation and led the McIntosh search.