A fundraiser created to fund the search of Vancouver Island’s five residential schools for the remains of lost Indigenous children has more than quadrupled its original goal.
Started Tuesday (June 1) by local Indigenous leaders Steve Sxwithul’txw, Tom LaFortune and Michelle Mundy, the fund aimed to raise $25,000 to purchase one ground-penetrating radar unit such as the one used to find the mass grave of 215 children at the Kamloops Residential School. As of Friday morning, the campaign had raised over $100,000.
“It just gives us the ability to purchase more of those units,” Sxwithul’txw told Black Press Media.
The equipment sends signals into the soil and can detect if it has been disturbed, as it would have been to dig graves.
READ ALSO: Remains of 215 children found at former B.C. residential school an ‘unthinkable loss’
Sxwithul’txw said he has found a lot of anger, hurt and sorrow in those who have posted comments on the GoFundMe page.
One person wrote: “I am Aboriginal. My entire life I was teased, mocked and treated differently because of who I am and where I come from. It disgusts me that Canada’s government and many people are still treated poorly because of our heritage.”
Wrote another: “As a mother of three Metis (Cree), my children would have been taken, tortured and/or killed. This is for all the babies and children burned, killed or tortured and the ripple of pain of blood memories. Reconciliation is here and voice are no longer silenced! We hear your little ones … gone but never forgotten.”
Sxwithul’txw said he was heartened to see many other donor comments came from people who appeared to be non-Indigenous and were expressing their allyship. Comments include apologies, sympathy and calls to do better.
In an earlier interview, Sxwithul’txw said he thinks the next couple of years are going to be “country changing.”
READ ALSO: Indigenous leaders want Vancouver Island residential schools searched for victims
“I think we’re seeing the cusp of something much, much bigger and the realization that Canada has failed First Nations in more than one way – they’ve taken our lives,” he said.
Right now, Sxwithul’txw, LaFortune and Mundy are talking with First Nations from around the Island to respect their wishes and determine if and how they can search the residential school sites.
The fundraiser, called Find Our Lost Children, can be found at gofundme.com.
READ ALSO: Sooke School District responds to heartbreak of residential schools with learning opportunities
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