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A First Nation community in southwestern Manitoba will be responsible for guiding decisions around the future of a Brandon campground that historical records indicate holds the graves of children who attended a residential school in the area.
The province of Manitoba has partnered with the City of Brandon to buy the Turtle Crossing Campground property — a confirmed burial site associated with the former Brandon Indian Residential School, the province said in a Tuesday news release.
But nearby Sioux Valley Dakota Nation “has stepped up as a steward of its traditional territory to help ensure the area is honoured, protected and cared for,” the province’s news release said.
“Today’s a historical occasion, not only for Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, but Indigenous people across Canada as well as Manitoba,” Sioux Valley Chief Jennifer Bone said at the site on Tuesday.
“I would like to see this area protected and establish a commemorative site.”
The property contains the remains of children who attended the Brandon Indian Residential School, whose “existence has been documented for more than 100 years,” Tuesday’s news release said.
A sign at the site of the Brandon Residential School cemetery on Tuesday. Historical records indicate a cemetery where children from the school were buried was used from 1895 to 1912. It later became a park, and then a privately owned campground. (Jaison Empson/CBC)
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew visited the site on Tuesday with Bone and Garrison Settee, grand chief of the advocacy group Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.
“We need to preserve a site like this one, as well as a very well documented history of the deaths that took place in residential schools, and the records that show where these children are buried, because there could be no denying what took place,” said Kinew.
He will dedicate a memorial at the site on Wednesday, Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, a provincial source said.
‘This is monumental’: research lead
The Brandon Residential School opened in 1895 and closed in 1972 . Historical records indicate a cemetery where children from the school were buried south of the school site, near the Assiniboine River, was used from 1895 to 1912, the province’s news release said.
Church records and provincial vital statistics files have documented the cemetery for generations, and it remains within living memory for many families, Kinew said in the province’s release.
In 2001, the park was sold by the city and became a privately owned campground.
The province put up $1.5 million to purchase the campground, while the City of Brandon contributed $400,000.
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, which owns the land where the residential school once stood, has partnered with university researchers to identify all children who died at the school.
Sioux Valley geophysical scientist Christopher Mancuso is the investigation lead on the project. Having access to the grounds is critical for that research, he said.
Sioux Valley Dakokta Nation geophysical scientist Christopher Mancuso is the investigation lead on a project to identify all children who died at the Brandon Residential School. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)
“This is monumental, because this has been in the making for 60 years. And it finally allows us the ability to conduct an investigation and to allow families to pay respects to those who died at the residential school,” Mancuso said.
An initial geographical survey in 2018 identified 56 potential gravesites at Turtle Crossing Campground , Chief Bone previously said.
A fence and memorial marker at the cemetery were removed in the mid-2000s . Bone previously said the graves have been repeatedly disturbed and damaged by developers since the 1920s.
In 2023, the First Nation, which has been searching for unmarked graves since 2012, and Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak called on the province to designate the campground a provincial heritage site to better protect it.