Human bones discovered at Polotek First Nation in Cape Breton has residents disturbed by the growing problem of erosion, which seems to have disturbed sacred ground.
The high winds and heavy rain that battered Chapel Island on Thanksgiving are to blame for the eroding land and exposing what residents say are human remains.
The island is a sacred aboriginal site and home of St. Anne’s Mission, an important pilgrimage site for the Mi'kmaq and a place of national historic significance.
“This is our grandfathers, grandmothers, everything. This is our family here. We've been here the longest,” says Chapel Island resident Michael Marshall. “When we have bad rain, you can see all the cabins are filled with water. Two or three feet the water comes up here.”
The island is two kilometers in length and one kilometre wide. The discovery was made three weeks ago in the middle half of the island along the coastline.
Marshall says the island is not as high as it used to be, and the water is overflowing the banks. He's worried it will become a common occurrence.
“This is going to happen more. I think the best thing is to take down all the cabins and find out where the rest are,” says Marshall.
The discovery of the remains has brought a lot of emotion for those who live on the reserve.
“I wanted to cry, knowing that they were exposed and nobody knew until someone found them. When we went down, the emotions all started running very high for me, knowing that our ancestors are here,” says band council member Sandra Basque-Johnson.
Basque-Johnson, an archeologist from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada visited the site twice, along with Parks Canada, and used radar technology to identify four anomalies.
“There's a 90% chance that these here are burial grounds and these are actually coffins,” says Basque-Johnson. “It looks like two adults and maybe a small baby.”
It's still a mystery as to how many people are actually buried on the island. The bones discovered are believed to be hundreds of years old.
“I would say the coffins that have emerged could be two to three hundred years old,” says Basque-Johnson.
The band council will meet early next week to decide when a ceremonial burial will take place to restore the remains.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore
