A British Columbia First Nation says recent analysis identified soil “anomalies” but no confirmed human remains at the former Kamloops residential school site.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A British Columbia First Nation that previously announced the detection of potential burial sites at a former residential school says its latest investigative phase has not confirmed the presence of graves or human remains.
According to a report by Lifesite News, the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation near Kamloops stated in a recent press release that investigative work identified “signatures that resemble burials” but did not confirm graves.
In the statement, the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc chief said that “some areas were ruled out as burials, while others cannot confidently be ruled out.”
The First Nation had previously announced in 2021 that ground-penetrating radar had identified 215 suspected burial sites at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. That earlier claim was referenced in a separate Lifesite News report.
The investigation involved ground-penetrating radar (GPR), LiDAR technology, canine teams and other scanning methods. Funding for the work totaled approximately $12.1 million, allocated from provincial and federal sources and intended in part for the “exhumation of remains.” Despite calls from some observers for physical excavation to verify anomalies, such action is considered unlikely due to the sensitivity of the site.
The Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc have stated they are not granting media interviews “at this time.”
In related developments, as reported by LifeSiteNews, Canada’s Ministry of Indigenous Relations was reprimanded for breaching an Act of Parliament by sealing records connected to the unproven residential school grave claims and has been ordered to release those files.
Media coverage in 2021 and 2022 widely reported allegations that hundreds of Indigenous children were buried in unmarked graves at former residential school sites. LifeSiteNews characterized those reports as “inflammatory and dubious claims”. Another LifeSiteNews account stated that, despite the 2021 announcement, there have been “no mass graves discovered” at residential schools.
Following the initial claims in 2021, more than 120 churches across Canada — most of them Catholic and many located on Indigenous lands — were burned, vandalized or defaced. Incidents include an Orthodox church that burned to the ground and another historic Catholic church that was reduced to ashes, according to reports cited by LifeSiteNews.
Academic Frances Widdowson, who publicly questioned the mass grave claims, was arrested on a university campus for trespassing, as reported by LifeSiteNews. She is contesting the action with support from a constitutional advocacy organization.
In 2024, retired Manitoba judge Brian Giesbrecht said Canadians were “being” “deliberately deceived by their own government,” criticizing what he described as the former Trudeau government’s policy of “actively pursuing” claims concerning “deaths and secret burials” of Indigenous children.
Canada’s residential school system, operated by the federal government and administered by Catholic and other Christian organizations, functioned from the late 19th century until 1996. While documented cases of abuse occurred within the system, the specific claims regarding mass graves at the Kamloops site remain unconfirmed following the latest investigative findings.
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