Core services provided by the Marieval IRS Research Project?
The goal of this project is to get as much information as possible to help survivors and Identify the graves so families can find closure and healing.
Annual Operating budget:
There are three streams of budgeting:
- Gravesite restoration funding
- Grave site reclamation – $336,000 per year
- Gravesite reclamation donations – $200,000 for survivor gathering summer camp .
Applying for funding grants for projects that will benefit the community
What are the big project or initiatives are happening this year?
- Purchasing a Zero Turn lawn mower
- Launching the Interactive Cemetery Map by Sask Polytechnic to help people identify their family and loved ones.
This online interactive map was created under the Cowessess Cemetery Project Between 2021 and 2022, A research team from Saskatchewan Polytechnic used Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) to search for anomalies indicating possible grave locations. The coordinates of known graves (those having headstones) and possible unmarked graves were collected using traditional land surveying techniques and were plotted on the digital map. A dedicated research team from Cowessess First Nation worked tirelessly to collect death records of people buried in the graves. These records were used to create an online interactive map with ESRI’s ArcGIS online platform by the Saskatchewan Polytech research team. The map can be displayed on any digital device connected to the internet.
It is possible to search the graves based on name, birth year, death year, age, and gender for the records that have been added to date. This is an on-going project, and we seek community feedback and involvement to add more records to the map and improve accuracy.
Please contact marievalirs@cowessessfn.com for your feedback and/or to provide information that can be added to make the map more accurate. Funding for this project was provided by the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (Truth and Actions Research Connections Grant) and the NSERC College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF Grant #548554-19).
Watch the video on how to use the tool:
If you have questions or information you would like to share with us regarding this project please contact:
