After human remains unearthed at St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, Mohawk ancestors find new resting place
Following a ceremony, the Indigenous remains were interred in a cemetery in Kahnawake
When St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal announced it would be doing some renovation work to reconfigure its gardens and entrance, the team had an inkling that they might find more than dirt and rocks buried under the historic site.
"We knew that it was possible to find bones on our site," said Céline Barbeau, director of communications at the Oratory.
With human remains being unearthed at other archeological dig sites on the island in recent years, it seemed like a real possibility for the national historic site located at the base of Mount Royal.
That's why Barbeau and her team weren't surprised when workers discovered "bones associated with four skeletons" under the parking lot near Queen Mary Road.
"Based on what they found, it was determined that this was a Native American burial site," said Barbeau.
Following a gut feeling, the Oratory had contacted Quebec's Ministry of Culture before breaking ground and had an archeologist on site.
Based on analysis, the remains were found to be hundreds of years old. The Oratory itself dates back only to 1904.
After finding the remains in August of 2019, the Oratory decided to reach out to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake.
"We could not go on like nothing happened and put the earth back on top of it," said Barbeau. "There was no way we were going to do this without the Mohawk community. It was a given."
Work halted on the $110-million construction project and it was decided that no more excavation would be done in the area, so as not to disturb any more graves.
In September 2020, a small ceremony was held to transport the remains to their final resting place in Kahnawake.
Ross Montour, a Ratsénhaienhs or chief with the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, told CBC that he felt the Oratory did the "right thing" engaging with his community and respecting its wishes.
Following a ceremony, the remains were interred in the oldest known cemetery in the Mohawk community.
"Human remains don't belong on shelves in universities or museums, or depositories. They need to be accorded the respect that our ancestors gave to them," said Montour.
"For us, our primary concern as Indigenous people is that the remains of our ancestors are respected."
He explained that, as part of the ceremony, traditional knowledge keepers went to the site "to pick the remains up, to speak to the ancestors, let them know what is going on and why they are being moved, why they are being disturbed and have the ceremony here to put them back to rest."
Montour said while it's ideal not to relocate burial grounds, the council wanted to be sure that the graves wouldn't be disturbed again.
He added that the re-interment was done without fanfare, but according to what was deemed appropriate to mark the event.
"It's a good feeling to know that you have played some part in restoring peace to those ancestors," he said.
For Barbeau, this represents just another layer of rich history that defines the St. Joseph's Oratory site.
"It is part of our heritage, it is part of our identity," she said. "When the work will be completed in our garden, the Oratory will erect a memorial for them."
With files from CBC's Matt D'Amours