Ground-Penetrating Radar & Unmarked Graves: The Legal & Ethical Need for Forensic Evidence

While media reports widely referred to ‘mass graves,’ the findings at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, involved the identification of 215 anomalies consistent with potential unmarked graves. These findings were based on a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) scan conducted in May 2021, but no excavations or forensic investigations have confirmed the presence of human remains.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was part of a network of residential schools in Canada established in the late 19th century to assimilate Indigenous children. The school operated from 1890 until 1969, after which the federal government took over its administration before closing it in 1978 APTN News.

The scan conducted by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in May 2021 identified 215 anomalies that were consistent with possible unmarked graves of Indigenous children. These anomalies were indicative of potential soil disturbances, suggesting that they could be unmarked burial sites, but they were not conclusively identified as human remains. However, there have been no excavations to conclusively confirm the presence of human remains through forensic analysis APTN News.

Legally speaking, declaring people as deceased without verification through proper forensic methods is problematic and could be considered inaccurate or misleading. The legal process for confirming death generally requires evidence such as a death certificate, forensic identification (in the case of found remains), or witness testimony. Here’s why verification is crucial:

1 Forensic Verification: The identification of human remains typically involves a forensic examination, including autopsy, DNA testing, or other methods to confirm that the remains belong to a specific individual and to determine the cause of death. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR), as used in the Kamloops case, detects soil disturbances or anomalies but does not confirm the presence of human remains without excavation and further forensic analysis Coastal Front.

2 Legal and Ethical Standards: Legally, authorities must have sufficient evidence to declare someone deceased. In the case of the Kamloops anomalies, no human remains have been excavated or identified, so declaring these as “deaths” without verification could breach legal and ethical standards. In criminal cases, for example, courts require conclusive evidence before determining that a death occurred APTN News.

3 Jurisdictional Authority: The authority to declare a person deceased typically lies with medical examiners, coroners, or forensic experts, who can issue an official declaration based on evidence. In the context of unmarked graves, this means excavation and forensic investigation are necessary to determine whether the anomalies detected by GPR are indeed human remains and to legally declare those individuals deceased CityNews Vancouver APTN News.

Without these verifications, claiming that bodies have been found could be legally challenged as speculative. Thus, the legal standard requires conclusive evidence before making such determinations.