Is there really ‘no evidence of human remains’ at residential school sites?

WARNING: This story contains details some readers may find distressing. The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available free of charge for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience. Call 1-866-925-4419. 

This article is part of the Reality Check series by Canada's National Observer. Have a question for us? Reach out at [email protected].

During the scrum after the French debate, Drea Humphrey, a reporter with Rebel News, asked Jagmeet Singh if he would condemn attacks against Christians in Canada. Humphrey referenced human remains at residential schools, saying that “these claims have been disproven by bands that excavated and remain unproven by those that have not.”

Singh refused to answer the question, calling Rebel News an “an organization that promotes misinformation and disinformation.”

Verdict: False

There are several instances of remains that have been found through excavations at former residential school sites. A site near Regina, Sask. found evidence of roughly 600 graves using ground-penetrating radar. A fragment of a child’s jawbone was found at a site in Saskatchewan. Ground-penetrating radar found evidence of 215 unmarked graves at a site in BC. Child-sized skeletal human remains have been accidentally excavated over several years at a site in Alberta, buried without caskets. The remains of a child under five were found at a former school near Edmonton. Three unmarked grave sites were found at a site in Manitoba. A further 158 potential gravesites were found in British Columbia. 

It’s cruel and completely false to suggest that the claims of human remains have been “disproven.” That’s simply not the case, and it’s revisionist history to suggest otherwise. 

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UPDATE: April 22, 2025

In this fact check, we noted the many instances in which ground penetrating radar was used to find evidence of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools. 

Reader Albert, a retired professor of pathology, wrote in with the clarification that ground radar studies are unable to definitively establish if what they are reporting is human remains — the only way to conclusively prove that would be through exhumation. 

That is true, though many Indigenous and First Nation groups performing these surveys are aware of the limitations of radar, and are using it as one tool among many. 

Our verdict for the Fact Check Friday stands, however. There were indeed instances where human remains were excavated from sites of residential schools, as described in the original piece.