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The provincial government has bought a private southwestern Manitoba campground where potential unmarked residential school graves have been identified.
The province on Monday acquired the Turtle Crossing Campground property in Brandon, a provincial source has confirmed.
Premier Wab Kinew will dedicate a memorial at the site on Wednesday, Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day, the source said.
The site is believed to hold graves belonging to children who were forced to attend the Brandon Residential School, which opened in 1895 and closed in 1972. It’s believed the burial site was used between 1896 and 1912.
The land was taken over by the City of Brandon in the 1920s and developed into a recreational area and campground in the 1960s. It was sold by the city in 2001 and became a privately owned campground.
Nearby Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, which owns the land where the residential school once stood, has partnered with university researchers to identify all children who died at the school.
An initial geographical survey in 2018 identified 56 potential gravesites at Turtle Crossing Campground, Sioux Valley Chief Jennifer Bone previously said.
A fence and memorial marking at the cemetery were removed in the mid-2000s. Bone previously said the graves have been repeatedly disturbed and damaged by developers since the 1920s.
In 2023, the First Nation, which has been searching for unmarked graves since 2012, and advocacy group Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak called on the province to designate the campground a provincial heritage site to better protect it.
