Warning: this story contains distressing and traumatic details regarding residential schools. Anyone experiencing trauma or impacted by the tragedy can reach out to the 24 hour Residential School Crisis Line at 1 800 721 0066, or 1 866 925 4419.
Ground-penetrating radar has revealed 17 potential unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school on Vancouver Island.
Those are the preliminary findings of an investigation being undertaken by the Tseshaht First Nation at the former Alberni Indian Residential School.
Historical research conducted during the investigation also revealed 67 records of students who died at the school while it was in operation.
Children from more than 70 Nations were forced to attend the site during its 73 years of operation as a residential school.
So far, just 12 hectares have been scanned out of the roughly 100 hectares being probed in the investigation as a whole.
Ottawa is now being called on to provide the funding needed to complete the investigation, and to support survivors and commemorate those lost.
Comments