Researchers Angela Burant, right, and Devin Kyle. University of Saskatchewan is undertaking the ground-penetrating radar search work. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Interpretive centre and art gallery planned

Ground-penetrating radar search underway near former site of Battleford Industrial School

May 19, 2023 | 5:39 PM

Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nation (MGBHLM) is having ground- penetrating radar (GPR) search work completed on its property to look for potential unmarked children’s graves.

The search will continue to May 24 at The Ridge, near the site of the former Battleford Industrial School, south of the town of Battleford. A feast will follow on May 25.

MGBHLM plans to build an interpretive centre and art gallery at the location in the future, with construction hopefully to start later this summer. They want to check for unmarked graves first before breaking ground.

The First Nation previously announced it was being awarded $5.82 million in joint federal and provincial funding to develop the interpretive cultural centre and art gallery at The Ridge.

This project is a combined initiative from MGBHLM First Nation and MGBHLM Economic Development Corporation Inc.

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Grant Beaudry, CEO for the First Nation’s Economic Development Corporation, said the project will be called the Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man First Nation Interpretive Cultural Centre, and Henry Beaudry Art Gallery. The late Henry Beaudry Sr., from Poundmaker, Mosquito and Sweetgrass First Nations, was a celebrated veteran in the Second World War and also a well-known artist.

Friday morning an opening ceremony was held before the ground penetrating radar work started at the location.

Elder Jenny Spyglass, a Senator with Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC) and Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), helped initiate the opening and smudging ceremonies.

“This search was supposed to happen last year,” Beaudry said. “This year the U of S [University of Saskatchewan] wanted to do it for us.”

He hopes to have the interpretive centre and art gallery construction to start later this summer.

“We still have to wait for the results after the GPR search,” Beaudry said. “The U of S team will have to go back and look at the data, and analyze it for any anomalies. Then, come back to us if they suspect there are graves there”.

He added it’s good that this work is being done.

“At the same time, if they do find something, we have to follow protocol, and [show] respect,” Beaudry said. “It’s very important if there are unmarked graves that we find them to honour them, pay homage, and pay tribute to the sacrifices that they made.”

University of Saskatchewan’s Angela Burant, with the anthropology and archeology dept., said the team will look for any graves from Battleford Industrial School that were left unmarked, at the site located east of the Wellness Centre at The Ridge.

A pipe ceremony precedes the afternoon work Friday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

MGBHLM Chief Tanya Aguilar-Antiman is looking forward to the project moving ahead.

“It’s definitely an opportunity for Mosquito, Grizzly Bear’s Head, Lean Man [First Nation] to do the research to confirm whether we have unmarked graves in that area where the interpretive centre is going to be built,” she said. “It will give us some peace of mind, whether anything will be found or not. Then, we can move forward with our Interpretive Centre.”

It’s estimated the Interpretive Centre and Art Gallery will take about 1.5 to two years to build.

Aguilar-Antiman believes the centre will be a step forward in reconciliation, and an opportunity to create dialogue, rather than debate, in the community, as others have also said.

“It’s important for the entire Battlefords to hear the Nakoda [people’s] perspective. We have a lot of history in the Battlefords – from the railway, to the buffalo, to the treaties, to the Nakodas…,” she added. “[And] the Fort, the Wandering Spirit, the Battleford Industrial School – all that history. It’s going to be a wealth of knowledge for our generation to come.”

MGBHLM and MGBHLM Economic Development Corp. is working in partnership with Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC), the Star Children Project, and the University of Saskatchewan for the ground-search project currently underway, to ensure the location will be fine for the future build.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow