Contractors working on the Star Blanket Cree Nation Indian Residential School Ground Project, have found over 2,000 “anomalies” on the Lebret Residential School site. These unusual findings are of concern to the team and are suspected unmarked grave sites.
Lebret Industrial Residential is located in Lebret, Sask. on Treaty Four territory also known as the Qu’Appelle Treaty. The school was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1884-1973, and then it was taken over by various nations near Lebret. However, in 1983 Star Blanket Cree Nation assumed responsibility and then in 1998 the school closed, which would make this school the last standing residential school in Canada.
This project is called the Star Blanket Cree Nation IRS Ground Project. The project is ongoing and is currently funded by the government funding program called Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund.
“The main rationale for the funding is the government wanted to work with us and give us those resources to conduct the archival research, bring the subject matter experts and the technicians to conduct ground searching,” said the director of the project Sheldon Poitras.
The project began unofficially in July of 2021 and had gone unfunded up until August. The project later received that funding in December/January and was able to be fully funded by February of 2022. Since becoming fully funded the project has been in full swing. Currently a team of 25 security staff consisting of full-time, part-time and casual workers are on call and available.
The project has two coordinators that manage the research, security staff, ground penetrating radar system workers as well as archeologists, as underground tunnels were discovered on the site.
“We’re getting an archeological team ready to be able to do activation of non-human remains,” said Poitras.
The site has also seen its share of past students who attended Lebret Residential School, including survivor Kerry Benjoe. Benjoe had previously talked to the director of the project Sheldon Poitras and it was concerning for her to hear that there are spots of interest at the site.
“I think about that, was I laughing and having fun while six feet under my relatives who were tragically killed (were buried),” said Benjoe, speaking about her feelings on the recent discoveries.
Currently phase one of the project is complete, the entire ground associated directly to Lebret Residential School and site has been searched completely and over 2,000 anomalies have been detected. This phase was done over a three year term.
Although 2,000 anomalies have been found it is not yet determined how many of those are unmarked graves. The project is now in its fifth year, second phase and funding has changed considerably. Even with this obstacle, Director Sheldon Poitras and his team are fully committed to putting in the work that is necessary for the project.
“As more projects come online throughout the country there is only so much funding to go around,” said Poitras. “Unfortunately, that’s made it a little bit more competitive”.
Although research has been going on for five years, Starblanket Cree Nation still holds activities in the gymnasium, which is the last standing area of the school. Every year an honour walk is held on July 1, and as of this year it has been the fifth year that this honour walk has been completed. The honour walk is done to honor the children as well as the group of individuals who created this walk.
On Sept. 30, also known as the day of Truth and Reconciliation, the grounds of the school are blessed and a smudge walk is held at the site and surrounding areas. This is to honor those who have passed and the effects that residentials schools have had on not only the people of Lebret, but of Canada as a whole.
