RCMP has confirmed it is now investigating the site where unmarked graves of children have been found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

In a statement, detachment commander of the Tk’emlúps Rural RCMP Staff Sgt. Bill Wallace says Mounties will continue to support Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc and says the band will be consulted before any further action is taken.

“The Tk’emlúps Rural RCMP has attended the site, participated in meetings, and will continue working closely with the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc community leaders in determining the next steps and the best way to be involved in any investigative avenues explored going forward, while at the same time being supportive, respectful, and culturally sensitive to the indigenous communities that are impacted,” Wallace says.

Wallace says the band and RCMP met on May 31.

Earlier today in the House of Commons, chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commitee Murray Sinclair, also a retired Senator and judge, stated that RCMP had started an investigation.

Sinclair is also calling for an independent investigation of all burial sites near former residential schools, saying there are too many questions still unanswered.

“It’s not only survivors of the schools that need to know this, but also survivors of those worked in the schools, also need to know what happened. Because this is hurting them as well.”

The RCMP investigation comes after preliminary findings last week from ground penetrating radar showed unmarked graves of 215 children on the property of the former residential school.

The school was open for 88 years, between 1890 and 1978, and as many as 500 students attended at its peak in the 1950s.

– with a file from The Canadian Press