Push on for policy to protect unregistered burial sites

Papaschase First Nation Chief Calvin Bruneau wants to ensure that what happened with remains found over the years in the Rossdale Flats area will not happen at other unmarked burial sites in the city of Edmonton.

“I’ve been trying to get a burial policy created…. I hoped to get the city to adopt that but the law department stepped in and (the city) didn’t want to get into that,” said Bruneau.

Presently construction work is ongoing in an area adjacent to the Rossdale Flats burial site. 

The city was required by provincial law to consult with First Nations who have a historical connection to the site.
Representatives from 21 First Nations and Métis groups were contacted by the city and those who wished were allotted three days each to monitor the ongoing work.  Papaschase First Nations had members present from Feb. 12-14.

The city’s bylaw for development in the Rossdale area includes a topsoil stripping program with an archeologist present to protect and manage the historical resources. Depending on what is found in the topsoil, further preservation measures may be required.
A provincial act regulates how to deal with such sites when human remains are found.

While Edmonton cannot make a city-wide policy regarding possible burial sites, Jaimy Miller, consultant with the city’s Aboriginal Relations, says the city can implement procedures that are specific to sites. This is what is happening in the case of the Walterdale bridge rebuild. The city is in the process of doing preparation work, and the north bank is of particular interest to First Nations, who have a history in the River Valley. Although the city is proceeding cautiously in its work, it does not expect to find human remains as the area has already been disturbed.

It is that past disturbance that has prompted Bruneau to push for a city-wide policy regarding potential burial sites.

Remains were unearthed in the Rossdale Flats area in the 1960s and 1970s and taken to the University of Alberta. Subsequent finds were taken to the medical examiner. These were reinterred in a repatriation ceremony in 2006. However, Bruneau has heard stories from workers on the site back then who say that some remains were disposed of at the city landfill site.

“Who knows how long that burial site was desecrated and bones scattered around the site?” he said.

Bruneau is pushing the city to adopt something similar to the United States’ North American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

“It would institute some law or act to help protect other burial sites,” he said.

Miller confirms that she and Bruneau have spoken about the city adopting such a law.

“When it comes to things like archeological sites and human remains, we have to defer to the province,” she said.

Bruneau says he has been made aware of three other possible burial sites.

“I’m still investigating and I’m still trying to find what they did with them. If they exhumed (the remains) and buried them somewhere else,” he said.

Miller says Bruneau made her aware of at least two sites but she “wouldn’t even know where to begin” to confirm them.  She referred Bruneau to the province.

Bruneau says he hopes to get the support of the Treaty 6 Chiefs in his push for a burial sites protection act. He says he has already contacted the federal NDP.