A fundraiser created to fund the search of Vancouver Island鈥檚 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鈥檛xw, 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.
鈥淚t just gives us the ability to purchase more of those units,鈥� Sxwithul鈥檛xw 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.
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Sxwithul鈥檛xw said he has found a lot of anger, hurt and sorrow in those who have posted comments on the GoFundMe page.
One person wrote: 鈥淚 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鈥檚 government and many people are still treated poorly because of our heritage.鈥�
Wrote another: 鈥淎s 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 鈥� gone but never forgotten.鈥�
Sxwithul鈥檛xw 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鈥檛xw said he thinks the next couple of years are going to be 鈥渃ountry changing.鈥�
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鈥淚 think we鈥檙e seeing the cusp of something much, much bigger and the realization that Canada has failed First Nations in more than one way 鈥� they鈥檝e taken our lives,鈥� he said.
Right now, Sxwithul鈥檛xw, 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 .
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