Brandon Indian Residential School

Students pose in front of the school in 1946

Five kilometres northwest of Brandon, Manitoba, the Brandon Indian Institute was established in 1895 by the Department of Indian Affairs. The school closed in 1972.[1] From 1895 to 1925, the Mission Board of the Methodist Church initially managed the school, intended for children from north of Lake Winnipeg. The United Church of Canada ran the school 1925 to 1969, and the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate from 1969 to 1972.[2]

An interior of the school in 1946

Records of deaths at the school were spotty and inconsistent. The 1905 annual report of the Department of Indian Affairs’ annual report noted five deaths, and Methodist Church records, only three in that year. In the 77 years the school was open, only nine deaths there were registered with the Manitoba Vital Statistics Agency.[3]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada found that over the 120 years of the program, 3,200 children minimum died at residential schools—one in 50 students, comparable to the death rate of Canadian POWs in Nazi custody.[4]

An investigation of cemeteries and unmarked graves at the Brandon school site began in 2012, a collaboration of the Sioux Valley Dakota Nation (SVDN) and researchers from Simon Fraser University, Brandon University and the University of Windsor, with the goal of identifying the children buried on the site.[5] A statement by SVDN Chief Jennifer Bone said that the project had identified 104 potential graves in three cemeteries. Cemetery and burial records account for only 78. In addition to two previously known cemeteries, the project has found a possible third burial site.[6] The project received funding to continue its work in April 2019, but work has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7] One of the burial grounds is now an RV campground.[8]