Bringing the Children Home: Advancing Technology and Capacity for Locating and Commemorating Residential School Burial Landscapes

Brief Overview

“Bringing the Children Home: Advancing Technology and Capacity for Locating and Commemorating Residential School Burial Landscapes” aims to support capacity-building[AL1.1] and advance technology in the sacred work of locating unmarked graves associated with residential schools and related institutions. The project furthers the work done by the Canadian Archaeological Association Working Group on Unmarked Graves and the work done with the National Advisory Committee for Unmarked Graves. This work is being furthered to apply best practices and provide training to communities and those assisting with Unmarked Burial Searches. This project builds on the current working group to establish a dedicated network of archaeologists working with communities to do the work to bring the children home as a direct response to the TRC Call to Action #74.

This network intends to create infrastructure[AL2.1], training, and support to work in good ways with communities conducting searches for their children in Residential school burial landscapes. Work with existing partner communities has informed their best practices for conducting searches and communicating the truth about these unmarked burial sites.

Goals and Outcomes

1. Support communities in locating and commemorating Residential School burial landscapes
2. Continue to develop knowledge about relevant ground-search methods and how they can be used in these sensitive spaces
3. Create accessible training of non-invasive archaeological technology and techniques for communities to explore significant sites related to Indian Residential Schools (and similar institutions) particularly where missing children or deceased individuals may have been buried.
4. Collaborate with community partners in navigating this project to ensure respectful and culturally appropriate approaches to potential grave sites, and to seek directives for managing data collected from these searches to best serve the communities and protect data sovereignty.

Who’s Involved

• Primary Investigator: Kisha Supernant
• Project Members:
  • Andrew Martindale
  • Lisa Hodgetts
  • Sarah Beaulieu
  • Terence Clark
  • Adrian Burke
  • Peter Dawson
  • Edward Eastaugh
  • Colin Grier
  • Micaela Champagne
  • Sarah Hazell
  • William Wadsworth
  • Sarah Beaulieu
  • Joshua Murphy
  • Scott Hamilton
  • Talisha Chaput
  • Victoria Tunney
  • Liz Campbell
• Partners:
  • Western University
  • University of the Fraser Valley
  • Institute of Prairie Indigenous Archaeology
  • Communities across Turtle Island
• Advisory Circle:
  • Sherri Chisan
  • Larry Ahenakew
  • Charlene Belleau
  • Darrell Boissoneau
  • George Pachano
  • Norman Yakeleya

Links and Resources

• The Canadian Archaeological Association Working Group on Unmarked Graves (CAAWGUG) – Governor General’s Innovation Awards
• CBC Radio article

Updates

• Members of this project have collectively worked together to create our ‘Principles of Community’, a living document to guide the work that the group is doing, establish codes of conduct, navigate group dynamics and potential conflicts of interest, and identify standards of professionalism.
• Phase 1 of the grant has been completed (Jan. 2024 – April 2025) which focused on Building Relations and involved establishing a Network Circle, Advisory Circle, and Sub-committees. During Phase 1, members continued to provide support for ongoing ground searches.
• Phase 2 of the project (April 2025 – April 2027) is currently in progress and is focused on Building Capacity, including:
  • Developing resources and evaluating the technologies used in ground searches
  • Assessing training needs and developing curriculum that uses effective training approaches and for different audiences
  • Assessing data management needs and exploring frameworks for data sovereignty
  • Exploring the capabilities of our network to ensure its effectiveness, efficiency, and alignment with community needs