Left to right, Karen Whitecalf (project manager with BATC for the Indian Residential School Searches), Elder Jenny Spyglass (an FSIN and BATC Senator), BATC executive director Neil Sasakamoose, Chief Cheryl Kahpeaysewat (BATC Tribal Chair), Chief Lorie Whitecalf (Sweetgrass First Nation); with federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller appearing virtually from Ottawa. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Support for BATC

Federal funding of $2.78 million announced to help with search efforts

Feb 22, 2022 | 6:28 PM

The federal government has announced $2.78 million of funding over three years to support Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs Inc.’s (BATC) work “to research, document and honour” the memory of those who attended the Delmas Residential School and the Battleford Industrial School.

The funds will help in the search for unmarked graves related to these former residential school sites.

Representatives from BATC were joined by Marc Miller, federal Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, who appeared virtually during the press conference Tuesday at the Western Development Museum in North Battleford.

BATC executive director Neil Sasakamoose said the organization is focused on searches in the area of the former Delmas Residential School and the Battleford Industrial School.

“The funding is going to be a big step for us to go and find documents, uncover a lot of the history…, and we are going to try to find kids. We are going to try to find the children,” he told battlefordsNOW.

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Sasakamoose said BATC has three goals: to continue the ground search related to the two schools; to commemorate the lives of the children of residential schools in the form of an interpretive centre; and to help those impacted by the legacy of residential schools to seek treatment.

BATC plans to continue ground search work at sites near the former Delmas school this spring, and will start near the Battleford residential school in the summer.

Sasakamoose said the search efforts for the former Delmas school have been difficult because the reported burial sites have been moved.

He said they were successful in finding the gravestone for Henry Atcheynum, 13, about a kilometre from where the Delmas residential school was located.

When announcing the funding support, Miller spoke about the lasting pain inflicted on innocent children, their families and communities from residential schools that “is still alive today…and continues to be a dark stain on our history.”

Elder Jenny Spyglass attended Delmas Residential School when she was a child. She believes her little brother Reggie may be buried near the Delmas site.

Chief Lorie Whitecalf of Sweetgrass First Nation, said Henry Atcheynum, whose gravestone was found, was her great great grandfather’s brother. She appreciates seeing the support from the funding that will help the searches continue.

“It’s our history. Knowing that it is going to be shared is a relief,” she said.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow