Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme

By Chris Brown

Cowessess First Nation says 751 unmarked graves found at residential school site

Jun 24, 2021 | 9:44 AM

The Cowessess First Nation says it has found 751 unmarked graves near the grounds of a former residential school in southeastern Saskatchewan.

“We always knew that there were graves here,” Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme said at a virtual news conference this morning.

He said the Roman Catholic Residential School impacted his people intently, event those who didn’t attend the school.

“They are feeling the first and second generation of that impact,” Chief Delorme said. “All we ask of all of you listening is that you stand by us as we heal and we get stronger and that we all must put down our ignorance and accidental racism of not addressing the truth that this country has with Indigenous people. We are not asking for pity, but we are asking for understanding. We need time to heal and this country must stand by us.”

The First Nation began radar scanning of the Marieval Indian Residential School grounds and area on June 2, days after the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children buried in unmarked graves at Kamloops B.C.

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Chief Delorme said that discovery was a triggering event for his community.

“We are going to be putting names to these unmarked graves,” he said. “We want to honour our loved ones that lay there today. We want to make sure that we keep that place and preserve it so many can come here and heal.”

He said Canada needs to have truth and reconciliation adding “there’s going to be many more stories in the future, and this is Cowessess First Nations’ moment of our truth.”

Chief Delorme said that there will be a monument at the site one day and every grave will be marked.

READ MORE: Local elder says a resolution is going to take time following Cowessess discovery

The school, located about 160 kilometres east of Regina, was built in 1899 by Roman Catholic missionaries and operated until the mid-1990s.

Chief Delorme made clear that the discovery at the Cowessess site is unmarked graves, not a mass gravesite.

He said it’s unclear if all the unmarked graves are of children, noting there are oral stories of adults being buried there as well.

Chief Delorme said the Catholic Church, which oversaw the gravesite, removed the headstones in the 1960s and that such an act is a crime.

“We are treating this like a crime scene at the moment, and we will know more as continue our research,” Chief Delorme said.

The gravesite became the community gravesite after the 1970s when the Catholic Church stopped overseeing the residential school.

Chief Delorme said the Pope needs to apologize for what happened and its impact on Cowessess First Nation survivors and descendants.

Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations Chief Bobby Cameron called what happened a “crime against humanity an assault on First Nations people.

“We are a proud people. And the only crime we committed as children was being born Indigenous,” he said.

He added the FSIN will not stop until they find all of their children, promising to search every Indian residential school site as well as sanitoriums, Indian hospitals and all sites where “our children were taken, neglected and abused.”

Chief Cameron said the world is watching Canada as the findings of genocide are unearthed.

He also said they expect and demand a full public inquiry into the genocide.

In a statement, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the graves found at former residential school sites in Saskatchewan and British Columbia are a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced and continue to face.

Chief Delorme gave two phone numbers for those who need emotional or mental support. The national line is 1-866-925-4419 and a local support line is being established today at 306-522-7494.