Province buys southwestern Manitoba campsite believed to hold unmarked residential school graves
The rubble of the former Brandon Residential School is shown in this 2013 Manitoba Historical Society photo. The school opened in 1895 and closed in 1972. (Gordon Goldsborough/Manitoba Historical Society)Social SharingThe provincial government has bought a private southwestern Manitoba campground that historical records indicate holds the graves of children who attended a residential school in the area, the province says.
The province 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.
The property "contains the buried remains of children who attended the Brandon Indian Residential School, and their existence has been documented for more than 100 years," Premier Wab Kinew was quoted as saying in the release.
Those graves "have been known about since long before the invention of ground-penetrating radar," Kinew's statement said.
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.
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.
A sign at the Turtle Crossing Campground property in Brandon on Tuesday says it's no longer operated as a campground, RV park or recreational site. The province has partnered with the City of Brandon to buy the campground property — a confirmed burial site associated with the former Brandon Indian Residential School, a Tuesday news release says. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)The land was taken over by the City of Brandon in the 1920s. Grave markers were removed in 1921 as the area was converted into a park, according to the province. The burial ground was commemorated in 1963 and formally marked in 1970, the province's news release said.
In 2001, the park was sold by the city and became a privately owned campground.
Nearby 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.
An initial geographical survey in 2018 identified 56 potential gravesites at Turtle Crossing Campground, Sioux Valley Chief Jennifer 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 advocacy group Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak called on the province to designate the campground a provincial heritage site to better protect it.
