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LETTER: Measures must be taken to protect existing Indigenous grave sites

Editor:
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Editor:

Re: Horrifying history, June 3 editorial

Recently Canada has fixated on unmarked Indigenous children’s graves, the result of residential schools.

It brings to mind the history of Surrey over the past 120 years.

Slowly at first, colonial settlement spread, with the cutting down of trees and the construction of roads, infrastructure, and houses.

We should keep in mind that with all the digging, human remains were uncovered; until at least the 1970s, UBC anthropologists made the trip down to pick up skeletons of Indigenous peoples.

The rest of the bones were dumped in landfills. Not the prettiest of colonial legacies.

But perhaps some amends could be made by recognizing and designating for protection ancient Indigenous grave sites that continue to exist in Surrey.

Bob Burgel, Fisher River Cree Nation