WAUZHUSHK ONIGUM NATION – A First Nation in northwestern Ontario says it has found 22 areas where human remains may be buried at the site of a former residential school.
The Wauzhushk Onigum Nation, near Kenora, Ont., was “alerted” to the areas at the site of the former St. Mary’s Residential School(opens in a new tab) in mid-August after using a cadaver dog to conduct ground searches in and around the old school grounds.
Opened in 1897 at Rat Portage in northwestern Ontario this school was first known as the Rat Portage Boarding School, then the Kenora Boarding School and then St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic School. From 1938 it was known as St. Mary’s School. Early in its history, the local band negotiated an agreement that students would not be converted to Catholicism against their parent’s will.
