We were told 215 Indigenous children were buried at Kamloops. Not one body has been found
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If Canadians truly believe that every child matters, then why don’t we know the names of the “missing” children from Indian residential schools—children we hear about almost daily in the media?
There have been numerous news conferences featuring Indigenous leaders announcing ground-penetrating radar (GPR) “discoveries” of unmarked graves at former residential school sites. Yet, in the few instances where excavations have taken place, no human remains have been found—despite oral histories and stories passed down by knowledge keepers.
Residential schools were government-funded, church-run institutions that operated in Canada from the 19th century into the 1990s. More than 150,000 Indigenous children were separated from their families and placed in these schools, where many suffered abuse and neglect.
What’s puzzling is this: after more than four years of emotional coverage about the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, where more than 200 children are alleged to be buried, there’s still been no effort to confirm the claims through excavation.
On May 27, 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced that GPR had detected what were believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children buried on the grounds of the former Kamloops school in British Columbia. The announcement made international headlines and led to widespread mourning and reflection across Canada.
Other First Nations soon followed, claiming similar findings using GPR—a tool that detects soil disturbances but cannot confirm the presence of human remains. Yet not a single name of a missing child has been made public—not even at Kamloops, despite the passage of time and $12 million in federal funds provided to support further investigation.
Funding was provided for investigation, including the possibility of excavation. To date, no excavation has taken place, and no public explanation has been offered for the delay.
This inaction is difficult to reconcile with the public response elsewhere. Canadians like to see themselves as compassionate. In Manitoba, the government of Heather Stefanson was defeated in 2023 in part because it refused to support landfill searches for missing Indigenous women.
The murders of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran sparked national outrage and led to calls for government-funded searches, which were eventually approved. Their remains were eventually found buried in a Winnipeg landfill
Yet the national urgency that led to landfill searches is strangely absent in Kamloops. If murdered Indigenous women in Manitoba matter—and clearly they do—why haven’t we pursued answers about the children allegedly buried in Kamloops?
The media have accepted and amplified the Kamloops story without demanding evidence. Orange Shirt Day events continue. Schoolchildren are taught that genocide occurred and that the allegations are settled fact. Meanwhile, no remains have been found, no identities confirmed, and no investigations completed.
Who is responsible for this? It’s easy to blame governments for fuelling a moral panic. It’s easy to fault the media for failing to ask basic questions. But accountability must start where the story began. The Kamloops band is in a unique position to provide clarity to Indigenous families and to Canadians by confirming whether the claims are supported by evidence.
It could demonstrate leadership by doing what is necessary to determine whether anyone is actually buried in the orchard at Kamloops, and if so, who they were and where they came from. Indigenous families deserve answers based on verifiable evidence—not speculation.
Too many Canadians have accepted and repeated deeply serious allegations that have not yet been substantiated through investigation. After all this time, and with no evidence presented, it is no longer reasonable to expect continued belief without proof.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew recently said $18 million was spent digging through hazardous landfill sites to recover the remains of Morgan and Marcedes. Surely the $12 million provided to the Kamloops band could have funded a dig of just a few feet.
Something is wrong here; either Canada is failing in its duty to investigate serious claims, or we must confront the possibility that the narrative itself requires re-examination.
Where is the compassion we claim to hold dear? Or is it not true that every child matters?
James C. McCrae is a former attorney general of Manitoba and Canadian citizenship judge.
Explore more on Residential Schools, Aboriginal Canadians, Aboriginal reconciliation, Scandals
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