BRANTFORD Data is now being processed from the ground-penetrating radar used to painstakingly search the grounds of the former Mohawk Institute.
The search for unmarked graves of children who were forced to attend the residential school officially began last November. About half of the 60 10- by 10-foot grids spray-painted in bright orange on the grass directly behind the former school on Mohawk Street have been searched, said Kimberly Murray, executive lead of the Survivors’ Secretariat, which is overseeing the search effort.
The work was shut down for the winter in mid-December.
In addition to radar, technology known as lidar is being used in the search. Lidar determines ranges by targeting an object with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver, thereby detecting changes in the ground.
“They will overlay the radar data with the lidar data,” said Murray. “But there’s a lot of ‘noise.’ There have been so many buildings there over the years. There are utility lines and trees. Not all reflections are necessarily burials.”
“As we get data, the survivors will decide what to share publicly but, in the spring, there will likely be some preliminary findings.”
Last May, ground-penetrating radar detected what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children at the site of the former residential school in Kamloops, BC A month later, Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan revealed a similar finding of more than 700 unmarked graves at a former residential school site.
Six Nations elected Chief Mark Hill said the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation has documented evidence of 52 children who died at Mohawk Institute, the longest-running of Canada’s residential schools, operating for 142 years.
But, he said: “We don’t know how many others are out there or where they’re buried.”
Murray said in the spring searchers will go back to the grids and continue their work. There are also plans to search the Mohawk Lake and canal.
“Survivors will make the next decision on where to search,” said Murray, adding that it could be the grounds of the nearby Mohawk Chapel.
Eventually, 600 acres will be searched in and around the former school, taking at least two years to cover.
“We are focusing on areas where survivors believe there may be burials,” said Murray. “We’re ready to go. We’ll be right back out there in the spring.”
She said a third ground-penetrating radar apparatus may be purchased and more people are being trained on how to use the equipment.
Murray said the survivor-led effort to uncover unmarked graves is unique among other searches done across the country.
“The community wants to be part of the work. It’s sacred work. They have that relationship with the land and with the ancestors they may be finding. They will do it with more care.
“We’re not having outsiders come in and tell us what has been found.”
At the same time, Murray said they continue to wait for the release of records related to Mohawk Institute, including some 1,400 records – survivor statements, correspondence and documentation related to the school’s operation: “most importantly the names of the kids” forced to attend the school—from the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation.
Murray said the Ontario government has numerous collections in its archives the secretariat wants to access.
“Just let our people look at it,” said Murray, adding that bureaucrats shouldn’t be permitted to “snoop around and look at it first.”
Murray said the secretariat also continues to wait for death records from Ontario’s chief coroner.
“We want to bring the records home and create a community archive,” she said. “It will be a place of dialogue and healing for survivors and the community.”