Residential school survivors, archeologists looking for unmarked graves in St. Albert

Eric McKay went to residential school in northern Saskatchewan when he was seven years old, now he's helping in the search for unmarked graves.

“I never really got the proper tools to navigate through life," he told CTV News Edmonton Tuesday.

“I went through phases of seeing other kids getting abused in there: sexually, physically, mentally and emotionally, as well as myself.”

McKay struggled with addiction in the years after adolescence. He began his road to recovery 13 years ago.

“I gave my life to God in 2010 and I've been on a journey, it’s been a process," he said.

McKay is one of several residential school survivors advising University of Alberta archaeologist Kisha Supernant.

“We work with survivors and Elders to identify the places where they’re most concerned of there being potential unmarked graves and try to evaluate how much we can get done at a time," Supernant said.

She and her team are using drones and other equipment to search for graves west of the St. Albert cemetery.

“The area just on the other side of the fence behind the three houses here on the site here. There’s a field there and that has been identified by Elders and survivors and our biggest priority," Supernant said.

Supernant says the results will be given to Poundmaker's Lodge. It’s unclear when they’ll be made public.

“Ideally, phase one is collecting those survivor stories and the survivors are now coming on site to lead and guide our archeology team on those areas of concern,” said Siobhan Dreelan from the lodge.

For McKay, he’s just looking forward to seeing some progress.

“My hope is that people would be more inclined to have an open mind along with the willingness to engage with all peoples," he said.

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.