More than 160 unmarked graves found at site of a former residential school on Vancouver Island

A BC First Nation says in a newsletter that more than 160 unmarked and undocumented graves have been found at the site of a former residential school on a small island off the east coast of Vancouver Island.

The Penelakut Tribe has not officially commented but its newsletter says the graves have been found on Penelakut Island, at the former Kuper Island Industrial School.

A University of BC Ph-D student in anthropology said in May that he had been working with the Penelakut Tribe, using ground penetrating radar to search for remains of children who died at the school during the nearly 100 years it was operating.

The Penelakut discovery is one of several announced since May when ground penetrating radar located 215 unidentified remains at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.