'Most horrific': Alberta First Nation investigating after remains of children found
Warning: This story contains disturbing details.
Saddle Lake Cree Nation in eastern Alberta is "actively researching and investigating" the deaths of at least 200 residential school children who never came home, as remains are being found in unmarked grave sites.
"It was one of the most horrific residential schools in Canada," Eric Large, from the Acimowin Opaspiw Society, told reporters in Edmonton on Tuesday.
Large started combing through burial records in February related to the Blue Quills Indian Residential School, which was based near St. Paul, Alta.
He believes he's found documents for 215 students who died between the ages of 6-11, but whose remains are still unaccounted for.
"The amount of missing children is extensive...The institution was strife with violence, illness, starvation, abuse and death," said Large, who attended a residential school himself.
Some of the records that Large obtained are from the Catholic church. He said there are 12,000 nation members, and each family had accounts of four or five children who disappeared.
"We have also been collecting witness statements from members in our nation to try and piece together a complex puzzle in regards to our missing children who never came home," Large said.
A councillor in Saddle Lake said he has accidentally recovered bones of several children, while attempting to dig new graves in the local Sacred Heart Cemetery.
"There were children's sized skeleton remains that were excavated. None of these skeletal remains were in caskets, none of the graves had markings of any sort," Jason Whiskeyjack explained.
"I came across a small ribcage attached to a spine...and then more infilling, came across a small skull," he recalled. "When I hit a lot of these graves there's no supports for us."
Whiskeyjack called on the federal government to provide the Saddle Lake with funding for radar equipment to investigate further. He also wants a community wellness plan to be created to assist members experiencing renewed trauma.
In February, a Cree woman launched her own effort to mark graves in Saddle Lake by selling moccasins for charity.
The issue of unmarked graves around residential schools triggered international mourning last May, after a First Nation near Kamloops B.C. announced that ground-penetrating radar suggests about 200 children are buried near their former school.
If you are a former residential school student in distress, or have been affected by the residential school system and need help, you can contact the 24-hour Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419, or the Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll-free line at 1-800-721-0066.
Additional mental-health support and resources for Indigenous people are available here.
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Joe Scarpelli
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
BREAKING Suspect sought after man found injured in downtown Toronto dies in hospital
Police are searching for a suspect in a homicide investigation after a man who was found with life-threatening injuries in downtown Toronto on Sunday morning succumbed to his injuries in hospital.
Cyclist issued fine for striking four-year-old girl crossing the street
A cyclist turned herself in and received a fine after striking a four-year-old girl who was crossing the street to catch a school bus.
WATCH Dashcam video shows terrifying near-miss on two-lane northern Ontario highway
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Potentially toxic chemicals hide in our drinking water and countless household objects, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
Police investigating after tow trucks shot at in Scarborough two hours apart
Toronto police are investigating after tow trucks were shot at in Scarborough about two hours apart Saturday night.
U.K. foreign secretary says halting arms sales to Israel would only strengthen Hamas
Asked whether the U.K. would follow the U.S. in threatening to cut the supply of offensive weapons to Israel if it carried out an attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the two countries cannot be compared because unlike the U.S., Britain supplies a very small amount of Israel's weapons.
BREAKING 37-year-old dies following Sault police shooting
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after a Sault Ste. Marie Police Service officer shot a 37-year-old in the city’s west end on Saturday night.