Feb 18, 2022
First Nation to search for children who didn’t come home from Alert Bay school
A British Columbia First Nation located off the coast of northeastern Vancouver Island says it has started an investigation on the grounds of a former residential school, looking for the remains of children who didn’t return home.
A statement from ‘Namgis First Nation, located near Alert Bay on Cormorant Island, says its investigation into the former St. Michael’s Indian Residential School will happen in phases, starting with hiring a project manager to help the nation access funding and plan how to engage survivors.
It says survivors from 45 different nations will be invited to take part to help guide the examination of the grounds at the institution that first opened as a day school in 1878 and closed as a residential building in 1974.
The nation says a search with the same ground-penetrating radar technology used to detect what are believed to be more than 200 unmarked graves at the former school in Kamloops would happen once the initial research is complete.