My family’s survival of residential school inspired me to identify people buried in unmarked graves [Video]

This First Person column is written by Shannon Cornelsen, who lives in Edmonton. For more information about First Person stories, see the FAQ. WARNING: This story contains details of experiences at residential schools.

In a field, between a suburban parcel of housing and Anthony Henday Drive in Edmonton, there is a graveyard. But there are no names on this site, and nothing to tell you who specifically is buried there. 

One plaque, installed in 2000, explains that this is a burial site for the Enoch Cree Nation and that people “as far away as the Northwest Territories” were buried here, but it does not explain why. 

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