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Mohawk Mothers worry evidence of human remains at McGill work site will be destroyed

Oct 2, 2023 | 12:26 PM

MONTREAL — Indigenous women say they are worried potential evidence of human remains at the site of a former Montreal hospital will be destroyed if construction isn’t halted.

The women, who call themselves the Mohawk Mothers, lost their bid for a court order last month to stop excavation on part of the site where McGill University is expanding its downtown campus.

A spokeswoman for the group says workers could destroy evidence because they want to move material – without sifting through it – from an area where sniffer dogs indicated human remains might be found.

Kwetiio, who only identified herself using one name, says observers with her group recently found a child’s shoe on that site and that workers had found bones but did not tell the Mothers.