Long Plain First Nation near Portage la Prairie began a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) scan of its former residential school site yesterday (Monday) morning, seeking answers about potential unmarked graves and human remains.
The work, coordinated by the First Nation's Lands Department, aims to uncover the truth about what occurred at the school during its 60-year operation.
Seeking truth for healing
Ralph Francis, Indigenous Residential School (IRS) Project Coordinator with the Long Plain Lands Department, emphasizes the search is fundamentally about discovering the truth. The school operated from 1915 to 1975, drawing hundreds of students from approximately 19 communities across Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and the Northwest Territories. Francis states the community is acting on its due diligence.
"We're doing this as it is being done across the country, and everybody wants answers as to 'is there or isn't there'?" he says, referring to the question of whether there will or won't be human remains discovered at the site. "So we're doing our due diligence to search the grounds and see if there are. A lot of people across the country call this project the search for missing children and burial sites, and we do have a property that has a history as a residential school. So, we want to do our best to find out if that is the case for us."
Francis stresses that the outcome, whether human remains are found or not, should guide the community towards peace and reconciliation. He advocates for accepting the truth, whatever it may be.
Process, language, and community guidance
The technical work involves scanning the site with GPR equipment. Francis explains that the process involves marking the area and moving the equipment slowly.
"It's similar to a lawn mower. They move it slowly over the grounds, marking out the area," he says, describing the process, "The radar goes into the ground, and if it doesn't encounter anything in the soil, then there's nothing, but if it does encounter something, the radar is brought back to the scanner and [with enough scans] it forms in an actual image of what's down there."
Initial findings will be termed "anomalies" or "potential graves." Francis notes that this commitment to being precise in the terminology used to describe findings is crucial, as further expert analysis will be needed to interpret the GPR reflections accurately.
Survivor knowledge is also integral; Francis worked with survivors at the museum to identify specific areas of interest for the scan team. Community elders, including survivors, have been consulted and supported through information sessions.
Should remains be found, Francis states the intent is to help them rest properly according to tradition.
A message to neighbours and the path forward
Francis highlights the importance of understanding the search's purpose beyond the Long Plain community, particularly for non-Indigenous neighbours in Portage la Prairie and the surrounding area.
"This is my personal opinion, but for us, we're not looking to cause any friction; we're looking to find answers, and we're looking to help. If there are any children down there, we're looking to help them rest properly. Because in our view, nobody went to school to be put to rest; they went to learn. So we want to do our best to give them that opportunity, should we find any."
He acknowledges that, to date, no confirmed human remains have been recovered from potential graves identified at other sites across Canada. Long Plain is collaborating with other First Nations navigating this process, and the community will proceed based on the facts uncovered.
The scan began yesterday morning (Monday) at 10 a.m., and while the public was welcome to attend the opening prayer and honour song, Francis emphasized the solemn nature of the work.
"We must emphasize that it's not a celebratory type of event we are doing. It's very important work. So, we're gonna do a blessing of the grounds, a prayer, an honour song, and then we're gonna leave it to the experts. We want to move forward with this and see what the outcome is."
As First Nations all across the country continue to work to uncover the truth of the past, Francis and the team at Long Plain are showing the community that the past doesn't need to hold you back from a brighter future.