Unmarked graves around the former Kuper Island Industrial School were confirmed after years of speculation. (Wikicommons)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

tragedy

Remembrance event planned after unmarked graves discovered on Penelakut Island

Jul 13, 2021 | 11:19 AM

NANAIMO — A somber event is planned to honour the children who lost their lives at a residential school in the Gulf Islands.

Joan Brown, chief of the Penelakut Tribe, said the March for the Children event will be held on Aug. 2 starting at 9 a.m. in Chemainus. Two healing sessions will also be held at the Penelakut School gym on July 28 and Aug. 4.

“We know healing can’t happen in one day,” Brown said in a release. “There are many truths to be told and heard.”

The event is being hosted after the confirmation of more than 160 undocumented and unmarked graves were found in the area of the former Kuper Island Industrial School on Penelakut Island.

The school was run by the Roman Catholic Church from 1890 to 1969, at which time it was taken over by the federal government. It was closed in 1975 and demolished in the 1980s.

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The school was known as Canada’s Alcatraz given its location, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

More than 100 students were known to have died at the school.

Unmarked graves were identified as early as 2018 but it was unclear how many were there.

“It is impossible to get over acts of genocide and human rights violations,” Brown said. “Healing is an ongoing process. We’re at another point in time where we must face the trauma because of these acts of genocide. Each time we do, it is possible to heal a little more.”

It’s unknown how and when the graves were discovered.

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