Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc
June 13, 2023 - 4:30 PM
Radar specialists are surveying for graves on Tk'emlups land this week, but this time on the perimeter of a known cemetery.
Ground penetrating radar work will be done on the edges of Tk'emlups te Pen Pen, one of the area's oldest cemeteries, which is at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
It's not clear what radar specialists are searching for, but the team in charge are called Le Estcwicwéy managers, the name the Band gave to the graves found near the Kamloops Indian Residential School.
Le Estcwicwéy, or "the missing," made waves across the country when Tk'emlups announced ground penetrating radar found the graves of around 200 former students near the Indian residential school.
READ MORE: Tk'emlups healing centre to be built on former Harper Ranch property
It began when a child's bone was found between the former school and the banks of the South Thompson River, leading the Band to discover dozens of unmarked graves near the largest Indian residential school in the country.
Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir said at the time they were discovered that there was a "knowing" among survivors there were graves near the school, but the radar work simply confirmed it.
The Band led the way in 2021, with other Indian bands conducting the same work in the months that followed.
READ MORE: A timeline of events since the detection of possible unmarked graves in Kamloops
Staff leading that effort at Tk'emlups are now overseeing the radar work near the on-reserve Catholic church.
Specialists with Underhill Geomatic Ltd. will be on-site from June 12 to 16, according to the social media post from the Band.
Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir, and two staff members, did not immediately respond phone calls or emails from iNFOnews.ca.
The Band hasn't announced whether the graves near the Indian residential school will be exhumed.
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