Thread by @ArchaeoMapper

The rise of pieces "debunking" the findings of the possible locations of unmarked graves of missing children who died at residential schools is deeply concerning. Framing these as "debunking" is harmful. Here's why. A🧵

The initial media response to the findings from Kamloops did contain misleading information. Part of this was a lack of knowledge about how ground-penetrating radar works. Part of this was about terminology.

Inaccurate reporting, however, doesn't mean that there aren't thousands of graves of children who died at residential schools, most of which are unmarked, even if they were initially marked when buried.

Inaccurate reporting also doesn't mean that the experiences of survivors, which often involve first-hand accounts of seeing children buried or digging graves themselves, are invalid.

Even if a child who died at a residential school was buried in a cemetery with an marker, that doesn't mean that parents were even notified of their child's death. Even if a child died of disease or neglect, they still died alone, away from home, without their loved ones.

The focus undermining on the ground-penetrating radar results is also problematic. It is true that ground-penetrating radar detects anomalies under the ground. But there are established scientific methods to determine what might be a grave and what might be something else in GPR

Demanding to see the remains of children from potential unmarked graves around residential schools in order to believe there might actually be graves is deeply disrespectful. There is EXTENSIVE archival evidence of children dying. We know they did, in large numbers.

What we don't always know is where these children in the records are buried. Many were buried in graveyards or cemeteries, but even when that happened, sometimes there is no trace of those locations today. GPR can help relocate these.

There is also the question of children who died and never were recorded. Recollections of survivors suggest that there were children who simply disappeared, or those who may have been buried outside of cemeteries. This warrants investigation of school grounds.

These articles focusing on debunking and downplaying the results announced over the past year are missing the point. It was already known that residential schools were places of horror where many children died and many others suffered. We didn't need GPR to know this.

The media attention over the past year means that more people in Canada and around the world are realizing how much damage was done by these institutions. It also means that Indigenous communities are finally getting the support they need to locate burial places of their children

One grave of a child beside a school is one too many. Thousands of graves of children is unthinkable, but it is the reality of the history of this country. Each child in a grave was loved. Each child in a grave was a child lost. #EveryChildMatters