Snuneymuxw First Nation receive $77,000 to find unmarked graves at former hospital site

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WatchOn Wednesday, a cheque for $77,000 was given to the Snuneymuxw First Nation by Tom LaFortune, Michele Mundy, and Steve Sxwithul’txw, who are the organizers of a GoFundMe called Find our Lost Children.

WARNING: This story contains graphic content related to violence and abuse, and may be disturbing to some readers.

The former Nanaimo Indian Hospital site has been unused for years, but now funding will help the Snuneymuxw First Nation with a new search to find unmarked graves.

“I feel the fear in here. what they might find there,” said Gary Manson, a Snuneymuxw member and residential school survivor.

On Wednesday, a cheque for $77,000 was given to the Snuneymuxw First Nation by Tom LaFortune, Michele Mundy, and Steve Sxwithul’txw, who are the organizers of a GoFundMe called Find our Lost Children. The Snuneymuxw will get ground-penetrating radar equipment to search for the bodies of children who died at the Nanaimo Indian Hospital, which was built in 1946 to treat Indigenous people with tuberculosis and operated until 1967.

RELATED: Snuneymuxw First Nation to search for unmarked graves at former Nanaimo ‘Indian Hospital’ site

Wednesday’s ceremony is the beginning of potential closure for many families that never got answers about what happened to their loved ones at the hospital.

The Nanaimo Indian Hospital was one of 29 Indian hospitals nationwide that were run by the federal government from 1946 until 1967. Former patients have described horrific mental and physical abuse taking place at the Nanaimo site.

Lolly Good and Loretta Manson were children when they were taken to the hospital to have their teeth removed. The procedure was done without freezing.

“Got me in the chair and wrapped me, tied our wrists up and yanked out all my teeth. For over a year all of us walked without teeth,” said Lolly Good, while motioning to several women beside her.

“I remember the pain. I’ll never forget that,” said Loretta Manson, who also had a majority of her teeth pulled.

RELATED: Island survivors share experiences at Indian hospital, day schools

Survivors, then just innocent children, recall being tied up and left alone overnight.

“I remember running around under the beds. They were so high and getting strapped in my bed,” said Lyle Manson, another survivor.

Many later learned the hospital conducted medical experimentation on patients.

“Our people were treated less than human as medical experiments and disposed of without regard of the sacredness of human life,” said Chief Michael Wyse of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

The other half of the money raised was recently given to the Ahousaht First Nation for similar searches by two former residential schools.

Anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience can call the 24/7 National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866 925-4419.

RELATED: Fundraiser launched to scan other residential school sites

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Kendall HansonKendall Hanson

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