On May 27, 2021, the Kamloops Indian Band announced “the confirmation of the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School”, asserting that some of these children “were as young as three years old”. This resulted in a national outpouring of grief, and Canadian flags were flown at half-mast across the country. Dozens of churches were burned or vandalized and Canadians were convinced that this was evidence that Canada had committed genocide against the indigenous population. Canadian politicians defended the arson as “understandable”.
A month and a half later, on July 15, 2021, the Band organized a presentation by Sarah Beaulieu, the Ground Penetrating Radar expert who had surveyed the site. In this presentation, Dr. Beaulieu noted that no remains had been found, and that only excavation could “conclusively determine” if children’s bodies were buried in the old apple orchard. Although it first appeared as if the original announcement by Chief Rosanne Casimir was a mistake, a number of factors show that there has been a concerted effort to deceive the public. And, in spite of 9.2. million dollars being requested for “ancestral remains excavation”, not one shovel has been put in the ground. Furthermore, the absence of excavations has not prevented neotribal eiltes such as Casimir from continuing to claim that the remains of children have been found on the former residential school site.
