Youth Reclaiming their Role.

The problem is tied to Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance. We want to ensure that work and learning acquired through ground search remains in the knowledge circles of communities and Indigenous peoples.

In 2021, 215 unmarked graves were identified at the Kamloops Indian Residential School (IRS).  From this finding the work into unmarked burials, associated with the more than 139 Indian Residential Schools, that were operated by churches, England, and Canada over one-hundred and fifty years has taken on national importance. The estimates are that more than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their communities and families and placed in these Indian Residential Schools.

In conducting ground search work, many communities are hiring external service providers to conduct data collection and analysis.  In our ground search efforts we have worked to capacity build by hiring intergenerational survivor youth to conduct data collection and analysis, to ensure that the data remains in the hands of survivors of the Indian Residential Schools. At this time we understand that this is the only model of this kind in Canada.

Our hope is to create online community curriculum/ training model that focuses on youth led team development and provides tools, templates and practical approaches on the use of geophysics technologies, data collection, analysis and data integrity.  Our focus is practical skill development within IRS ground search work and focuses on practical expertise and training as a way to build  local capacity, while supporting intergenerational healing between young people and Indian Residential School Survivors.  In building a learning space we hope to share practical knowledge and insights gained, with other Indigenous communities conducting ground search work tied to the more than 100 Indian Residential Schools that operated in CND .  We want to ensure these tools are  accessible to Indigenous communities leading this work while ensuring communities retain ownership of their ground search data.  We also want to address the importance of communities grappling with when to bring in external resources, while ensuring that the sacred nature of this work remain in the hands of Survivors and Communities.

In submitting this proposal to MIT Solve our focus is to create a free online portal/ resource that provides access to knowledge and online training resources to Indigenous communities leading ground search activities. This resource will support the role of technology, specifically the role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)as modern technologies that have a role in the work of  community healing, community knowledge and skill building by investing in the ability of Indigenous young people to step into their roles as knowledge carriers, invests in their capacity to be leaders in this work and be self-determining as they assist and or lead ground search activities on behalf of Indian Residential School Survivors, and become data protectors of the ground search data collected in each community. The portal is in effect a community learning and sharing hub.

Creation of an interactive learning space focused on knowledge sharing specific to ground search work, analysis of the data collected through ground search efforts and a space for Indigenous communities to learn and share.

The hope is to create a  portal that will be hosted by the Survivors' Secretariat and made available to Indigenous communities involved in ground search efforts.

We hope to profile and promote work into ground search where Survivors and youth Intergenerational Survivors are working together to uncover the truth about unmarked burials.  We want to address the importance of young people in this work given the /intersection of technology/ Indigenous Culture and healing and especially when combined with their work to assist survivors in bringing the children home.  Both groups learn and heal from each other and Survivors learn first hand that the young people want to help them in this work and they want learn the truth about why so many painful memories remain secrets within our communities.

The creation of this learning space provides a practical tool kit, user friendly training and a practical example of IDS and IDG through data, that can be shared with all communities leading this work.

The Survivors' Secretariat is on Six Nations a First Nation in Ontario.  Our focus is the operation of the Mohawk Institute (MI) the oldest and longest continuously operated Indian Residential School in Canada.  We work to uncover, document and share the truth about what happened during the 140 years the Institute operated. The archives show that children were taken to the MI from more than 60 First Nations across Canada, the James Bay and Hudson's Bay.   

There were more than 139 Indian Residential Schools operated across Canada, children were taken from more than 400 communities and sent to these schools, including the Carlisle School in the United States.

The creation of a First Nations ground search portal will have immediate value to the 139 communities where the Indian Residential Schools were operated and where ground search efforts may be under way.  The data collected in our work has the potential to have a broad impact for communities who had their children taken as they search for the children that never came home.  Children whose remains may be contained in potential unmarked burials.

We have been working with Survivor groups, archeologists and geophysicists across Canada for 3 years. We have developed and refined our training, tools and ground search protocols.  Our work is Survivor led and Survivors are part of the training and knowledge sharing work provided to our youth team as we create spaces for healing through the work and dialogue.  

Dialogue is a critical part of what we hope to create. We know Indigenous young people want the history of the schools, but don't want to trigger Survivors by asking  questions.  In turn Survivors are now ready to share the truth of their lived experiences in Indian Residential School(s).  It is in this space that we see the powerful potential to create strong connections that bring together healing through dialogue. 

We have learned the importance of sharing how Survivors and Indigenous young people are critical to providing training and practical skills in ground search. Both have a role as knowledge carriers.   Survivors are the truth tellers of their time on the lands of the MI and the Young people are able to become knowledge carriers of the survivors history, while doing  ongoing ground search work as part of their commitment to work with Survivors to heal from the genocidal history of the Indian Residential Schools and keep the knowledge in the hands of communities, highlighting a practical application of IDS and IDG.   

 For the Survivors, they see their memories are important and preserved and as part of ground search efforts.  In training others on ground search, the young people step into their traditional role as helpers and knowledge carriers, they also become more self-determining.  In creating a portal we hope to create an online living example of community healing that embraces IDS and IDG while ensuring the knowledge remains in the hands of communities.

We work from a place of knowledge gifting.  We have advocated strongly to ensure that the work into unmarked burials along with the knowledge and capacity building remain anchored in our communities.  We have stayed away from working through academic settings, because it perpetuates a system in which community learning and knowledge builds their capacity and not our own.

We work with people who have academic and professional accreditation, but our focus is to work with people, build relationships with people who want to mentor and coach us in the work that needs to be done.  We  partner with archeologists, geophysicists and ethno-historians, to gain highly specialized training for Indigenous young people doing the work.  We have in turn used this learning space to share history and knowledge about our people, the lands and the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools.  

We are the right people to lead the design and delivery of this project because we created this youth led model.  We gift the model to  communities, Anishinabek Nation, Nishnawbe Aski Nation in Ontario and meet ongoingly with First Nations in Alberta and Saskatchewan to talk about our ground search model.  This experience and learning has been very well received. Unfortunately, we are a small team and we lack the physical and financial capacity to do this in a broader and more effective way, without it having a negative impact on our own ground search efforts.  

This team has training in the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Drones, Surveying using (GSS) and the processing and analysis of data collected from the use of these technologies.  We have made mistakes, refined our training and we are now about to begin training of our third cohort of young people.

As we bring on a new group, the previous group moves into a new layer of our work, or data analysis.  We have developed training and orientation materials, built in cultural education and ensure young people and Survivors are continually talking.  

The use of ground search technologies for unmarked burials is unprecedented.  This is all new terrain.  Many communities lack the capacity to take this work on themselves and are hiring external companies to so this work for them.  This has not always been successful.  Our hope is this portal can be a resource and guide to communities because is offered from a nation to nation relationship knowing we all want the Survivors to have answers about unmarked burials within their life times.

It is because of the urgency of "within their lifetimes" that we submit the proposal.  The average age of an Indian Residential School Survivor is between 65-94 in our community.  The portal will provide an opportunity to share our work with others so more communities can step into ground search and at the same time allow us to continue our own ground search work as we seek Fianswers for the remaining survivors. We believe communities can benefit from an approach that blends education and healing.

We have built and delivered the training and ground search team model and are entering our 3rd cycle/ year  of orientation for a new cohort of ground search team members.

We are in the process of completing our 3rd year of Training on GPR and Drone use of GSS technologies specific to ground search for unmarked burials.  We are now in our first year of data processing and analysis.

We have three levels of expertise within the model, with duties and responsibilities defined within each role

GPR ground search role

GPR coordinator - Additional responsibilities include basic surveying and processing data collected in readiness for deeper analysis of individual ground search images.

Data Analyst Creation of data catalogue within our GIS project.  Conduct time intensive review and line by line notations to identify targets of interest that may require further investigation with respect to potential identification as an suspected unmarked burial.

Data Coordinator - Ensures all data is aggregated an anonymized to ensure that the confidentiality and non-disclosure provisions have an added layer of protection.  We see the ground search data as having the potential to identity the final resting place of children and as such we see this added layer as a child protection factor.

Field Manual  Over the last three years we have added to our orientation and training materials.  As new technologies have been added we have worked to create training modules and checklists.  As we process data we refine and provide clarity on check lists tied to what must be done and how this data is to be downloaded, processed and where it is to stored.  We continually revisit and update our access privileges to data as new technologies are added and new partners support our work by training and creating needed data standards that are needed to ensure we have quality data that is readable.   

As work into unmarked burials is so early in its work, we have worked to combine online, hands on and classroom learning in ways that are user friendly for the young people who are leading and doing the work.  We have created roles and systems to ensure the knowledge gained is documented and shared.  Because of this, we have received many requests to present and share our work.   We do not have a large staffed base of people who can meet the growing requests, and still conduct our work at the MI.  Being realistic about our limitations, balanced with our desire to gift the knowledge we have gained, we believe the creation of a portal is a way to grow our efforts in a way that we can be part of a First Nations community knowledge hub focused on ground search.

Financial - Limited funding and resources to develop portal create a significant obstacles. 

Technical- Building a robust user friendly portal that respects privacy and Indigenous data security, sovereignty and governance is crucial.  Help with technology and implementing best practices on data encryption and protection. Many communities grapple with intermittent connectivity /limited access through internet.  

Legal- Data ownership, intellectual property rights, and legal frameworks that ensure IDS and IDG hold primacy.  

Cultural- Collaboration to ensure the portal serves as a place of knowledge sharing, truth and healing.  That the portal is a space that honours nation to nation relationships and the gifting of knowledge within and across our nations.

Market Barriers- promoting the portal across communities doing this work while ensuring access remains limited to Indigenous communities doing this work.

Knowledge gathering, Knowledge Keepers and Healing comes from many places.  In putting forward this submission, we are inviting people to be part of assisting us on many levels.  

1. Investing in the capital of First Nations young people by providing them access to organizations and people who want to see them be successful and supports their ability to have a voice in helping other communities.

2. Creating a collaborative space for Indian Residential School Survivors where they get this wonderful opportunity to be part of work within the reputational community of MIT and be knowledge experts when it comes to the importance of their lived experience in Indian Residential Schools.  The secondary part of this work is Survivors seeing this work is important beyond our immediate communities.

3. We are vested in the belief that Knowledge comes from everywhere and we see the MIT community as a wealth of knowledge we can grow our work and healing from.

I am a band member of Six Nations of the Grand River, three generations of the women in my family, attended the Mohawk Institute.  I am an intergenerational survivor, as are all but one of the Secretariat staff leading this work.

We are a not for profit organization, that is currently working to gain charitable status.  We were created as a result of work by Survivors in our community, with the support of our Elected leadership.

The Indian Residential School our work is connected to, housed children from 60 First Nation communities, James Bay and Hudson's Bay coast. By extension our work is connected to survivors from all of these communities through the survivor gatherings we host and through our ground search work.

The nature of the work underway is unprecedented.  The operation of Indian Residential Schools in Canada fuelled a class action lawsuit and resulted in the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada.  The issue of unmarked burials was raised in Volume 4 of the Commissions final report and is now part of a broader national conversation about children who died while attending these Church and Government operated schools.  Where our work is somewhat different from other communities, is our focus of linking archival research work with ground search efforts.  Sadly, the work into finding unmarked burials does not provide the full story of who that child may have been, what happened to them and more importantly, let their family finally be able to grieve their death.  Short of a DNA registry, most of what we can currently say about any recover of remains is tied to gender and approximate age.  When we link this work with archival research into records and documents we can begin to narrow down what children did not go home, why and if there are documents noting a child's death we begin to narrow in on which children may be in an unmarked burial 

By incorporating technology and knowledge sharing across communities in ways that honour our knowledge and expertise we are engaged in the practical ways to create online spaces that extend reach of communities and creates ways for an aging group of Survivors to have their lived experiences available and accessible to other communities.  For the young people who are leading our work, online spaces are a natural part of their outreach and knowledge sharing circles and provides them a space to celebrate the work being done and their role in leading it.

Over all, the portal becomes a part of our broader archival work  and the role of technology in ensuring our data remains in our hands and not in the records and archives of systems and governments.  Additionally, it provides communities access to online resources and tools that they can access as a way of strengthening their approach to the same work in ways that could support them to potentially replicate and model in their own work.

In changing the landscape, our hope is the portal informs a transformative process as Indigenous communities take back control of knowledge and determinations about access to knowledge gained about ground search.  This simple act is a practical demonstration of self determination.

First nations communities across Canada have only just begun the work into unmarked burials associated with the operation of Indian Residential Schools in the last 4-5 years.  In taking on this work, we face many barriers, including barriers tied to access to information, denialism and a national media that can be focused on the spectacle of finding the graves of Indigenous children who died.  Worst of all, communities do not know who to trust, what technologies to use and who are reliable and credible experts within the archeology and geophysics.  This last point has resulted in communities being exploited and often not knowing who can provide them with credible information on what to do, how to do it and build skills and capacity within their own communities.  There is no singular space outside of the Canadian Archeological Association (CAA) to access information.  In creating the portal, First Nations communities will not have experts housing or claiming the space of expertise in this work.  Our aim is create the portal as a generative knowledge sharing space because there is a void that needs to be filled with respect to claiming our spaces as knowledge holders and experts in our own work.  It is not to be critical of entities like the CAA  we need their assistance as coaches and mentors but more importantly we need spaces that are ours, work from the basis of nations to nation relationships, spaces that support and foster our self-determination and spaces built in line with Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance.  We must claim the moments of importance as we do the work of bringing the children home, because in bringing them home we as nations must house the knowledge of their journey and remember that we must protect this knowledge within our communities now and into the future because this work is about all our children and our families histories.  This work is sacred work and the lessons learned are part of sacred ceremony.  It is hard for people to understand this, but each day we do ground search we do it in the same way, using very specific tools, we work with elders, spiritual people and young people under the guidance of the Survivors.  The portal ensures our ability to be part of shaping and informing healing through the intersection of technology, connectivity and human relationships within a space / online community we build and in which we define the customs and practices that are necessary to help each other in this work.

Our Impact Goals and how we measure are integrated and noted below

Uncovering the truth about what happened at the Mohawk Institute during its 140 years of operation.  this work is anchored in the lived experiences of the remaining Survivors of the Mohawk Indian Residential School.  These Survivors range in age between 65-94 years of age. 

Documenting what we do, how we do it, why we do it, note who we do it for and most importantly document the lives of every child who attended the Mohawk Institute as a way to (re)member all of them and to ensure we can find more information about the children who never went home, and the children who died and may be buried on the more than 600 acres of land associated with the MI. We document for them, their nations, their communities- and their families, 

Sharing the truth of 140 years, children from more than 60 First Nations communities and the James Bay and Hudson's Bay coast were forcibly removed from their homes and taken to the MI.  We understand that  communities want the truth.  As part of our work we embrace the notion of "gifting knowledge" wherever possible.  We share our tools, updates on our work, attend meetings and gatherings to update survivors and communities using the portal as a way to share our ground search efforts and knowledge gained and lessons learned.  Our approach and belief is Truth is Sacred and Knowledge is Healing, as such we must share what we know, so that the healing work Survivors are doing becomes part of all our community conversations and not held and housed in one community.

The Pillars that anchor our Approach 

Document Collection-We have been able to access maps, drawings and aerial photos over time to reconstruct the landscape of the land over the last 190 years, in finding the names of the children we can begin to understand who went home and who did not.   This matters as we can begin to seriously think about how many of the children not accounted for could potentially be buried on the grounds.

Ground Search _We work with a core team of youth to conduct ground search activities on the grounds associated with the MI.  We are now in our 3rd year of operation and we have a GIS project in place to document and house our data and work.

Advocacy - In advocating for each other and through the work of the Secretariat, more and more Survivors are coming forward to share their lived experience and inform the work underway.  Advocacy is most powerful when it is self advocacy that mobilized the people. With respect to ground search, the memories of Survivors are critical to sites that may be linked to potential burials.

Commemoration and Memorialization Bringing the Children home is about the ground search and archival research work we do.  The records and documents hold the only memories that document what happened to the children. 

The question itself can be somewhat problematic for us.  Many of the communities we want to share this content with face connectivity barriers, that are inline with developing world conditions.  Our approach to this portal begins with accessibility, an approach that would support the ability of a community to potentially download content as a means of navigating poor internet connectivity.  The reality is many First Nations lack equitable access to a robust internet connectivity and this is a central challenge in knowledge sharing and self-determination efforts across communities.

The core of the portal will be built on a robust CMS platform, WordPress, a user friendly interface accessible across devices, desktops, laptops, smartphones. development activities will be a combination of web development, multimedia content tools (video creation) combined with interactive features. A user friendly  approach will support content creation, management and publishing activities within the Secretariat.

To create and deliver comprehensive training content for the portal we will incorporate multimedia elements inclusive of videos and podcast content to demonstrate techniques and procedures in the ground search. To deliver all that multimedia content effectively the portal will be hosted on WP Engine, the fastest more reliable WordPress hosting service.

For the interactive maps we will be sharing maps, images and tools we have used in our work to better understand the story the lands are telling us.  We will share the knowledge we have gained from our use of  geographic information system technologies and invite communities to share their work and use of alternative technologies used in the search for unmarked burials.  The space is critical to support the ability of communities to learn from each other and act as a peer review model on their successes and lessons learned in the work.  A peer review process that begins and end with First Nation communities.

To better protect the portal information a user authentication and authorization mechanism will be implemented.

As a way to support the engagement and learning the portal could eventually feature a discussion forum where Indigenous young people and Indigenous community members leading ground search work within communities can connect as they uncover, document and share the truths associated with ground search work.

We are based in Ohsweken, ON, Canada.  We are located in southern Ontario

Our work remains centrally anchored at the grounds of the Mohawk Institute,  our hope is that the creation of the portal will be about sharing knowledge and empowering communities who are also taking on this kind of ground search work. 

We are a small team

Secretariat Lead- 1 full--time

IT Director - 1 fulltime

Ground Search Manager - 1 fulltime

Ground Search Analyst/ Coordinator - 2- fulltime

This is our 3rd year.

In year 1, we created the model with funding provided through the National Indian Brotherhood Trust.

Because of the success of the Reclaiming our Sacred Role initiative in the first year, we used our direct operating dollars to continue it in 2023 and again this year in 2024.

We have refined and strengthened the tools and resources to deliver this training in person.

We need to expand the reach of our program to create the learning portal. 

Our commitment is to ensure the work to uncover the truth of unmarked burials is led by survivors and intergenerational survivors, of more than 60 First Nation communities, our commitment to diversity and inclusion is to honor the legal, spiritual and cultural practices of each nation.  With respect to our commitment to equity, our focus in building this portal is to ensure that young people and communities can share and learn from each other.  Our hope is to level the playing field in this work by sharing our lessons learned, we model equity through knowledge sharing in ways that help communities, move survivors closer to the truth about unmarked burial and focus on healing through the rebuilding of relationships through healing.

Many of the barriers we face are linked to using technologies that have not been developed to look for unmarked burials of children or of babies, they have been designed for agricultural and to support geographic information systems work largely aligned with cities and development.  This means there is no baseline to work from, we are all working to figure out what works, who is providing tools and training and how we process and analyze the data collected, knowing it may take years before it all comes together in a way that we can accurately determine what is an unmarked burial. Adding to the barriers we face in this work is a denialism movement in Canada that is focused on denying that children died as a result of the Indian Residential School system.  

Our hope is the portal will provide a communal / collective space where we can work across our nations  and not become a target of denialists.

We serve Indian Residential School Survivors from more than 60 communities and the James Bay and Hudson's Bay coasts.  Over the last 3 years we have been seeking out the names of every child that was taken from their family and community and placed at the Mohawk Institute.   We are working to retrieve all records and documents associated with the operation of the Mohawk Institute to find this information.  We have accessed records that predate Canada as a country.  We have travelled to England to access the Palace archives, at Lambeth Library, the Museum of London and the Royal Museum, to date we have accessed more than 28,000 documents from more than 30 archival data bases. We have been able to recover information about more than 4,800 students who were taken, and identified more than 600 staff who worked at the Mohawk Institute. 

In our ground search work we have accessed images from early drawings, land mapping, aerial images and more recent Lidar and Drone footage to help us see how the land has changed over time.  At the same time Survivors and the Secretariat have been working closely with a Indigenous Data Solution company to build a database that will house all the data we have collected.  In doing the we will ensure any family seeking information about a family member who attended the Mohawk Institute will have access to the data we possess, free of charge.  The database will be a space of living commemoration and memorialization, where the memories of these children will be protected as they are (re)membered to their families and nations.

Our aim is to fulfill, the Survivors' promise to the children who did not make it home.  We will find who they are and ensure they are not forgotten or lost in the records of Canada, England and the Churches.  The creation of the database and portal places control and access to information in the hands of Survivors to ensure the truth is uncovered, documented and shared with the families and decedents of the children who were taken.

We provide the gifting of knowledge, access to tools and resources  developed in the course of our work and provide a practical application of IDS and IDG that begins with Archival Research, is underpinned with a data application and reinforced through a ground search portal that provides communities and families access to the knowledge/ truth about the history of the Mohawk Institute, what we have learned from the records and documents and how this informs our ground search work.  The  ground search portal offers an opportunity to create a space where we can communicate with communities doing this work and share our training tools, resources and manuals.  It supports our ability to share and be part of the  broader issues of ground search at Indian Residential School sites, while allowing us to continue our own work. We are creating an online community space for those doing the work to share and collaborate.

As a Survivor-led organization we continue to actively seek funding opportunities to support our ongoing work. At this time we are negotiating with Canada and Ontario to expand  our initial funding agreements for the next 3 fiscal years.  

We recently submitted a funding application to Heritage Canada for 500,000.00 to create a mobile history project and we are in the final stages of review for this funding.

In the period of 2021-2024 we have secured the following

-10.2 million in funding from Canada to support - Archival research and Document recovery, Ground Search Work, Data base development to house records and documents.

-4.2 Million in funding from Ontario to support the provision of Mental Health, Spiritual health and the coordination of Survivor gatherings to bring Indian Residential School Survivors.

-200,000.00 in funding from the National Indian Brotherhood to create and implement the Indigenous Youth Ground Search model that we have not absorbed into our overall operating budget.

We are currently pursing our Charitable Status so that we can actively seek out funding partnerships from larger corporate partners.

We want to create a legacy organization and as such our strategic planning over the next 3-5 years is vested in fund-raising and work with Canada to ensure sustainable funding is put in place to ensure the legacy of Indian Residential schools continues well beyond the life time of the remaining Indian Residential School Survivors of the Mohawk Institute and the more than 139 operated schools across Canada.