Kamloops Residential School Radar Survey: What Was Found in 2021

First published May 29, 2021.

In late May 2021, the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced that a ground-penetrating radar survey at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia had found signs of what it believed were the unmarked graves of 215 children. Many headlines called it a "mass grave". That was not what the survey showed. Radar detects disturbances in the soil, not bodies, and no excavation has taken place. As of early 2025, no human remains had been exhumed or confirmed at the site.

The announcement nonetheless forced Canada to confront a history that survivors had described for decades. This page sets out what the survey found, what remains unknown, and why the residential-school system still matters.

What the radar survey found

The survey was carried out by anthropologist Sarah Beaulieu of the University of the Fraser Valley, working in an old apple orchard on the school grounds. Ground-penetrating radar sends pulses into the ground and records how they bounce back. Disturbed soil, such as a filled-in pit, can produce a pattern that resembles a grave shaft.

On 27 May 2021, Chief Rosanne Casimir announced the preliminary result. She said the community understood the children's deaths to be undocumented and that some were as young as three, a belief based on survivors' testimony passed down for years.

In July 2021, Beaulieu presented a fuller report. She revised the figure to about 200 "probable burials" or "targets of interest", and she stressed that only excavation could confirm whether human remains were present.

What is known, and what is not

Because the findings were often reported loosely, it helps to separate the claims.

• Known: radar identified about 200 soil anomalies consistent with possible burials in one part of the grounds.
• Known: children did die at Kamloops. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has documented at least 51 student deaths at the school between 1919 and 1971.
• Not established: how many of the anomalies are graves, who might be buried there, when, or how they died.
• Not established: that these were deaths no one ever recorded. That question depends on archival work matching burial sites against church, government and community records.

In March 2024, Chief Casimir said the community had not begun excavation and was still focused on archives and oral histories, describing digging as very intrusive. In May 2024 the band began referring to the radar targets as "anomalies". Talking about these limits is not a denial of harm. It is simply what responsible reporting on a grave survey requires, and it respects the community's right to decide what happens next.

The Kamloops school

The school opened in 1890 as the Kamloops Industrial School. From 1893 it was run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a Catholic religious order, under federal government funding. In the 1950s it held around 500 children at a time, making it one of the largest residential schools in Canada.

The federal government took over in 1969 and used the building as a residence for students attending nearby schools until it closed in 1978. Today the site is part of Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc land near the city of Kamloops.

The residential-school system

Residential schools were boarding schools funded by the Canadian government and largely run by churches. Their stated aim was to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian society. Around 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children passed through them, and the last federally funded school closed in 1997.

Children were often taken far from their families, punished for speaking their own languages, and separated from siblings. Survivors have described hunger, disease, physical punishment and sexual abuse. Overcrowding and poor health care meant tuberculosis and other illnesses spread quickly.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which reported in 2015, documented more than 4,100 deaths of students across the system and said the true number was likely higher, because records were incomplete. It described the system as a form of "cultural genocide". In October 2022 Canada's House of Commons passed a motion calling for the system to be recognised as genocide.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologised on behalf of the government on 11 June 2008. Pope Francis apologised in person during a visit to Canada in July 2022.

How Canada reacted in 2021

The news triggered grief across the country. Flags were lowered, people left children's shoes on steps and memorials, and other First Nations announced their own radar searches. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded on social media:

The news that remains were found at the former Kamloops residential school breaks my heart - it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history. I am thinking about everyone affected by this distressing news. We are here for you. https://t.co/ZUfDRyAfET

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 28, 2021

Richard Jock, chief executive of the First Nations Health Authority, said the discovery was sadly not a surprise and showed the lasting damage the schools had caused. Carolyn Bennett, then minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, called the schools a shameful part of Canada's history.

The weeks that followed also saw a wave of fires at churches, several on First Nations land. Indigenous leaders condemned the arson and asked people not to destroy buildings that some community members still used.

Why careful wording matters

In the years since 2021, the gap between the first headlines and the evidence has itself become a subject of debate. Some commentators have used the absence of excavation to dismiss the entire history. That does not follow: the deaths, abuse and family separations of the residential-school era are documented by a national commission, survivors and government records.

At the same time, saying that a mass grave of 215 children was "found" overstated what a radar survey can show. The most accurate summary is this: a survey identified about 200 possible burial sites at a school where children are known to have died, and the community is still deciding how, and whether, to investigate further.

If you are a survivor or family member affected by this history, the Indian Residential School Survivors Society and Canada's national Hope for Wellness line offer support.

Sources: Wikipedia, Kamloops Indian Residential School; Wikipedia, Canadian Indian residential school system; BBC News, 28 May 2021; Castanet Kamloops, 29 March 2024.