Wauzhushk Onigum Nation

The discovery of 171 "plausible burials" at a former residential school in northern Ontario has retraumatized the First Nation that announced the finding, its chief said, with efforts underway to ensure residents have the mental health support they need. 

Searches for unmarked graves at the site of a former northern Ontario residential school have uncovered 171 “plausible burials," the Wauzhushk Onigum Nation said on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, with other sites still to be investigated. 

The fight is not over to find records that could answer "hard questions" about unmarked graves at Canada's residential schools, including who the missing children were and how they died, said the woman appointed to work with Indigenous communities in searches underway across the country.

A First Nation in Ontario is working with a Winnipeg environmental assessment firm to help communities investigate sites of former residential schools with an Indigenous-led approach.