WIDDOWSON: A grave error? Let's have facts on alleged secret burials

In a recent interview about the breakdown of democracy at Quesnel city council, where I was shouted down for asking a question about misinformation concerning evidence of “unmarked graves” at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS), I noted that three things needed to be satisfied to ensure transparency and accountability. First, the ground penetrating radar (GPR) report of Dr. Sarah Beaulieu (referred to below as The Beaulieu Report) should be released to the public. Second, the RCMP investigation stymied by Murray Sinclair into the KIRS “crime scene” should be restarted. And third, excavations should begin in what used to be the apple orchard at KIRS, as this is the only way to determine if there are clandestine burials at the site.Upon further reflection, items two and three — restarting the RCMP investigation and beginning excavations at KIRS — are far less important than the first item about releasing The Beaulieu Report. Even worse, they have the potential to bog down the current attempts to get to the truth regarding the false claim made by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (formerly the Kamloops Indian Band) on May 27 2021 that there had been “confirmation of the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School.”Item two (demanding that the RCMP investigation be restarted) could hamper truth-seeking efforts because it is bound to provoke objections about the tense relationship that the police force has had with indigenous groups in the past. Demanding that the RCMP take the lead in this context will in all likelihood result in allegations of bias.Similarly, requesting item three — that excavations should take place — will also result in objections being raised. In spite of Manny Jules, a former Chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, stating in January 2022 that the 'family heads' felt that the apple orchard should be excavated and “those little ones should be sent home,” some indigenous people have made it known that they are opposed to any possible burials being disturbed. Even suggesting that excavations are the only way to determine whether remains exist has been responded to with the following absurd retort: “Indigenous people do not owe anyone the bodies of their children.”Releasing The Beaulieu Report to the public, on the other hand, should be, as they say, a “no brainer.” The report, after all, was paid for by a $40,000 grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage. This means that The Beaulieu Report cannot be considered to be a “private” document of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc. Transparency and accountability require that Canadians be able to understand how public funds are being spent.According to the chair of Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) archaeology department, Hugo Cardoso, The Beaulieu Report was reviewed by five archaeologists (whose names have not been disclosed.) Another SFU archaeologist, George Nicholas, however, has revealed that the archaeology department is now under a gag order by the lawyer from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, and the case cannot be discussed. How is it possible for this publicly funded academic institution to have its research controlled by a private entity? In order for knowledge to be developed in universities, all research results should be subject to open rigorous evaluation.Finally, because of the false claim made by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc’s chief Rosanne Casimir, which was based on the GPR findings of Dr. Beaulieu, there have been significant consequences for Canadians. When the Kamloops announcement was made, flags were flown at half mast across the country. Casimir’s false allegation about “the remains of 215 children” was then used as evidence to assert that Canadians perpetrated “genocide” against indigenous peoples. As a result, many churches were subjected to arson attacks. And then there is the question of the quarter of a billion dollars that has been distributed, not to mention the seven million dollars received by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc soon after its May 2021 press release. As well, there are numerous additional lucrative legal disputes that have been initiated on the basis of the 'discovery' of KIRS’ 'potential graves.'This is due, in part, to the fact that the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc and other indigenous organizations have not tried to correct the record. Instead, they seem to be actively promoting misinformation (and, in all likelihood, disinformation.) In September 2021, for example, the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, as one of its resolutions (moved by Rosanne Casimir), stated that there were “215 unmarked mass graves of children” at KIRS. This continued in 2022, when a representative of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc told a journalist that GPR had confirmed the existence of a “mass grave.” The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc leadership, in fact, has acted in a duplicitous manner, first saying the The Beaulieu Report would be released to the public and then backtracking. Now, they are stonewalling any attempt to begin excavations in spite of the fact that three years have passed.Besides, it is highly improbable that there are any “unmarked graves” in what used to be the KIRS apple orchard. Unlike other residential schools, which often are situated near neglected cemeteries where grave markers have deteriorated, the cemetery for the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc is next to a church and not connected to KIRS. Furthermore, not one parent has stated that their child is “missing.” If this is the case, who would comprise the 200 (not 215) “bodies” that the “targets of interest” identified by Beaulieu’s GPR machine are supposed to be?The reason why there cannot be remains of “215” children is because Beaulieu revised her claim to “200 targets of interest” on July 15, 2021 when she first presented her findings to the public. This was because she was told after she did the survey — presumably by one of the five archaeologists who reviewed her report — that 15 of the “targets of interest” she discovered were located in an area previously excavated by the SFU archaeology department. This raises the question of why the other “200 targets of interest” could not be due to similar non-grave soil disturbances. As is documented by “Kam Res” (a pseudonym,) septic weeping tiles were laid in the 1920s, and there were many other excavations. The “east-west configuration” of the anomalies that Beaulieu referred to as evidence of “Christian burial traditions”, in fact, were also the orientation of the rows of these tiles. Is Beaulieu suggesting that those digging secret graves would have been concerned about the “configuration” of their clandestine burials?Secrecy is one of the main reasons why this charade has been able to continue for three years. The release of The Beaulieu Report will enable its methodology to be scrutinized, which is the first step in evaluating the evidence for clandestine burials. If the report is not released, it will be obvious that the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc leadership is not interested in “truth and reconciliation.” Instead, it is manipulating the compassion non-indigenous Canadians feel about indigenous deprivation to extract more funding on the basis of its false claims.

WIDDOWSON: A grave error? Let's have facts on alleged secret burials

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