Survivor wonders if 'plausible burials' at former Kenora residential school might include her relatives
Winnipeg-based survivor's home community of Wauzhushk Onigum Nation reflects on stories from the school
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
Residential school survivor Vivian Ketchum's heart is heavy as she spreads out family photos and other mementos on a coffee table at home in Winnipeg on Wednesday.
Some pictures show her aunties and late mother, maiden name Mae Henry, who attended St. Mary's Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont., said Ketchum.
On Tuesday, their home community of Wauzhushk Onigum Nation in northwestern Ontario confirmed evidence of 170 "plausible burials" at the former residential school site, following a round of ground-penetrating radar that detected the anomalies.
"I am just thinking ... are any of my relatives any of those?" Ketchum said. "My relatives, friends of my mom could be in there, and my community is hurting."
The findings had Ketchum reflecting on when she traveled to B.C. in 2021 to stand alongside community leaders and other survivors when as many as 215 potential burial sites were detected with radar at a former residential school. That was the catalyst to other First Nations subsequently performing similar sweeps across Canada.
Ketchum said she didn't expect her home community to be making similar findings.
"It's been very disheartening," said Wauzhushk Onigum Chief Chris Skead during a visit to Winnipeg on Wednesday. "It's very difficult, but that's part of uncovering the truth."
The search began in May of last year. It was driven by stories of abuse from elders who went to the school, he said.
"Some of those stories are really difficult even to fathom," said Skead. "All of those traumas."
Painful memories
Ketchum said she and her father, Andrew Ketchum, attended Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School, also once in Kenora.
At the age of 14, her mother was sent to St. Mary's, which was operated by the Roman Catholic Church between 1897 and 1972.
Years later, in her 60s, she told Ketchum what she could about the experience, how nuns cut her hair when she arrived and stripped her of her identity.
"She couldn't tell me any more. She put her head down.... I could see the tears in her eyes."
Ketchum's sister heard more. She said their mother and grandmother told stories about how children at the school died of polio and tuberculosis and were buried.
"Why didn't they ... record them in a book somewhere so we could know who they are?" asked Ketchum. "You don't just put our children in an unmarked grave. That is so disrespectful, if it is [170 burials]."
Official records from St. Mary's suggest there were 36 student deaths at the school over the 75 years it was open.
'Believe our stories'
Ketchum recognizes the stories she's heard are just that. But she hopes Canadians "believe our stories," and she also has reason to distrust official tallies.
"There was a lot of documentation that were destroyed by the churches," she said.
She still wrestles with how to reconcile her mother's Christian faith after what she was put through at the school.
Ketchum said her mother would carry rosary beads and a cross that she would ask her kids to kiss. Ketchum connects those memories to the absence of smudging and other traditional teachings she feels she was deprived of.
"No teaching of our ways … and that was so ingrained in her to carry those rosary beads," Ketchum said. "You don't see any rosary beads in my house."
Chief Skead said Wauzhushk Onigum community members want to expand the search. There are a couple of islands adjacent to the community, where some elders' stories suggest priests and nuns took children, he said.
"Sometimes they would return, and sometimes they wouldn't," said Skead.
Moving forward, Ketchum said she would like to see the public and all levels of government continue supporting searches for potential unmarked burial sites.
Despite the "ugly memories" associated with the school, she said she is remembering her mother fondly.
"I'd like to think my mom is dancing with the ones that they're finding."
Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools or by the latest reports.
A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health counselling and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or online at www.hopeforwellness.ca.
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With files from Stephanie Cram