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Throughout much of the news media over the last couple years in Canada (and internationally), it was claimed that a mass grave of 215 Native American children had been found at a mass grave site at the site of a former residential school in British Columbia. However, it seems to be the case that this might not be true. The claim is that there was a radar test underground that looks like it may have been a mass grave event by the type of rocks and tree branches and so on that were found, but factually not a single body has ever actually been exhumed or proven to exist.

Is this claim true? Have any bodies actually been found at the Kamloops Residential School as part of the 215 claimed bodies (not including others that may have been found, I'm asking about this one specific event)?

DJClayworth
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Ertai87
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    No exhumations have yet been done, if that's what you are asking. This is an ongoing story. – DJClayworth Feb 08 '22 at 17:31
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    Voting to close since it's an unresolved event (digging is not complete), but I do note that the blog you link to does not closely analyze the methodology of the original investigation, and instead uses smear tactics. – Avery Feb 08 '22 at 18:29
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    @Avery How long will it take for it to be resolved, have they _started_ digging? As far as I understood from the original press release they were going to _"ensure that the locations of the remains are protected"_ and _"expect to complete preliminary findings by mid- June"_ (meaning June 2021). That means we even have a date. – pipe Feb 08 '22 at 20:42
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    @DJClayworth That's not quite what I'm asking. The statement I'm asking is even weaker than that. Exhumation implies finding and removal of a body. The linked article says that no bodies were even found (yet), rather that simply the makeup of the groundwork at the site implies that bodies are probably buried there (without evidence, meaning an actual corpse). I'm asking, is that statement true (that we believe bodies are there simply based on sedimentary and other evidence, without proof of any actual bodies) or have actual bodies actually been found? – Ertai87 Feb 08 '22 at 21:15
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    @Avery I'm asking abut the current status of the investigation, not absolute fact of whether bodies may be found in the future. It was presented as fact in the media that this is a mass gravesite with 215 bodies (that number was presented as factual, not conjectural, by the news media), and I want to know, at the time of reporting, or at any point since, until present day, is that information factual or conjecture? – Ertai87 Feb 08 '22 at 21:18
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    There is a duplicate question here: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/51824/were-the-remains-of-215-indigenous-children-some-as-young-as-3-years-old-found It doesn't have an answer, because the situation is ongoing. The ground penetrating radar is significant evidence, to back up the other evidence, but the situation is not yet resolved. There are some links there that summarize the effectiveness of GPR. – DJClayworth Feb 08 '22 at 21:45
  • @DJClayworth Thank you for the related question. The article you linked (from the CBC) in your comment on that question states that they "expect to have a final report at the end of the month [of June, 2021] about the survey findings at the former residential school". Was such a report ever filed and if so what were its conclusions? – Ertai87 Feb 08 '22 at 21:56
  • @DJClayworth As a side question, absent a team actually going in and digging up the ground, what would be considered "conclusive evidence" in your opinion regarding being able to close the book on this "ongoing situation"? This is why I'm specifically asking about the evidence we have at the current moment, because it is unknown when or if there will actually be anyone going in to dig at the site, so an absolutely conclusive answer may never be reached; I'm wondering what the current status of the investigation is so I know what facts the ongoing media reports are based on. – Ertai87 Feb 08 '22 at 22:01
  • Yes, the report was released. :https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/en/news/1809374/tkemlups-te-secwepemc-release-final-report-on-unmarked-graves-at-former-kamloops-residential-school – DJClayworth Feb 08 '22 at 22:01
  • @DJClayworth That report is confusing. In the first paragraph it says "potential burial sites" and about halfway down the page it says "215 children had been buried" (note the past tense, indicating they no longer are buried there, i.e. there are no bodies); however , below the image it says the childrens' home communities have been contacted, implying they know who the children were, implying bodies were found and children identified. So, I'm confused. Which is it? Were bodies found, or not? – Ertai87 Feb 08 '22 at 22:07
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    "Had" is normal English. The survey occurred in the past, so the results are given in the past. It does not mean the bodies had been removed. The communities around the residential school already know which children went missing, or were believed to be killed, at the school. The families of those children were contacted to let them know that graves had been found. They have not, as far as I know, positively identified that specific children are buried in the plot. – DJClayworth Feb 08 '22 at 22:12
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    Were "graves" found? Or were "potential burial sites" found? "Grave" implies presence of bodies, "potential burial site" (which is what the report says) does not, and this distinction is specifically what I am asking in my question. – Ertai87 Feb 08 '22 at 22:20
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/133974/discussion-between-djclayworth-and-ertai87). – DJClayworth Feb 08 '22 at 22:21
  • Is there supposed to be a mass grave at Kamloops to bury many people who died all at the same time, or is it supposed to be an unmarked graveyard for people who might have died over years or decades of time? – M. A. Golding Feb 09 '22 at 16:50
  • @M.A.Golding The former, according to the media. However, without actual bodies, it's uncertain as to whether or not there even is such a grave site at all, nevermind what it is supposed to have been used for. All we know (it seems) for now is that a) children died at residential schools (this is a fact) and b) the radar images we have imply that this site may (not proven) have been used for burials. The media has jumped from those 2 statements to factually-stated claims of genocide numbering in the hundreds in this particular instance. – Ertai87 Feb 09 '22 at 18:09
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    @M.A.Golding I don't think anyone mainstream is suggesting that all the deaths occurred at the same time. Most reports just state that thousands of children went missing combined over multiple schools and many decades, in conjunction with many reports of physical abuse. And GPR surveys of the grounds of one school appear to show evidence of around 215 sets of human remains. Anyone claiming anything more than that might well have an agenda to promote. – PhillS Feb 09 '22 at 20:56

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