Secret gravesites discovered at old residential school

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Morning pipe ceremonies, sweatlodge ceremonies, healing circles and prayer each made up a part of the second annual Releasing and Reclaiming the Spirits of Residential School gathering at the Nechi Institute and Poundmakers Lodge held from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1.

The goal of the gathering was to honor former students of the Edmonton Indian Residential School many of whom were from northern British Columbia and northern Alberta.

The facility, run by the United Church of Canada, was opened in 1924 and closed in 1968. Since 1973, the site is home to Poundmakers, an addictions treatment facility that uses Aboriginal culture, spirituality and the 12-step program in its healing therapies.

Participants prayed at the gravesites located on the property, and took part in a number of healing ceremonies. The process that is meant to relieve and release the spirits buried there began in 2000 after the institute became increasingly aware of unexplained things that people heard, saw, or felt while visiting the area.

In 1999, an individual who traveled from northwestern British Columbia to visit the school said he'd been a student there and revealed a secret.

"If it is one or two saying they heard or saw something, then you could deal with it in a certain way, but there were quite a few people who actually came forward," said Ruth Morin, CEO of the Nechi Institute. "Then this individual from B.C. walked around the grounds here in a great deal of pain and he showed us where the unmarked graves were located. He had been one of the students in the late 50s who buried some of the kids in the graves. The dead were students of the school who became sick, probably from tuberculoses, and were sent to the Charles Campsell Hospital in Edmonton," she said.

Morin said the boys at the residential school had the job of burying the bodies, often without a prayer service or ceremony, and in the absence of loved ones, and it bothered this individual all these years.

"Here we were walking around this area, having a building here and powwows for 20 years, and we did not have the knowledge that there were unmarked graves here. We were aware of the 98 bodies that are in the cemetery adjoining our property, but we did not know about the rest.

She said the dead were brought back to the school in wooden boxes and she learned from the visitor that the boys often did not know who the individuals were they were burying.

"He showed us where the graves were of the ones he knew of, so when we became aware of this we had to do something. So a committee comprised of Elders, many of who were former students, decided to have four years of prayer and healing ceremonies during the Labor Day weekend. I suspect that it will carry on like that for the next two years.

"I notice a difference in this place. This year it feels even better than last year. People can feel it. My hope is that through this process there will be a sense of peacefulness here," she said.

The sound of a drum filled the air as 15 people representing northern B.C. and the Queen Charlotte Islands held a special healing ceremony to honor past residents of the school from their communities.

"It's been very powerful for me to come here for a different reason other than to stay at this residential school. I'm here by choice now," said Raymond Harris of Hazelton, B.C. "This is part of our personal closure. Whether we do it in front of a lot of people or we do it on our own, I believe that we have to make our own personal healing and then move on from the misery that we've experienced... "The unmarked graves I did not know about. All I knew about were the ones in the graveyard here where I dug some graves.

" The purpose at that time was that we all made $10 a piece as gravediggers. I did not realize how much it impacted me until later on in my life," he said.

Two treatment centres were set up in tipis and kept busy during the three-day event.

"One was called Healing Touch with an Aoriginal masseuse, and the other one is about inner child work," said Morin. "A lady who is part of the Nechi staff had a vision last year about people needing to heal through a swing that we used to use as babies. She had a very nice nursery set up there for people to go there to be swung. I heard good things."

A Karoake night and a round dance, feast and give away were also a part of activities.

"We probably had 100 people attend the gathering. It was not a large crowd, but whoever was here had to do what they had to do to heal. We had a nice time," said Morin.