Possible children's bodies in Duplessis-era 'pig' cemetery halt plans to excavate Quebec's Liquor Board

Quebec's alcohol council – the SAQ – has halted excavations at a warehouse in Montreal after questions were raised about the existence of an “unofficial” cemetery where the bodies of children from the “Duplessis Orphans” era may lie.

A joint letter from the Comité des orphelins et orphelines institutionalisées de Duplessis and the Kanien'keha:ka Kahnisensera (Mohawk Mothers) advised SAQ of its distribution at 1501 rue Futailles in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montreal. The Jean de Dieu Hospital housed children in the mid-20th century, an era sometimes known as “Le Grande Noirceur”.

“Despite the 'mass exhumation' of the cemetery in 1967 and the transfer of the bodies to the Cimetière de l'Est, which became Saint-François d'Assise, further human remains were discovered during the construction of buildings for the community. des Alcools du Québec was found in 1975, indicating that not all the bones had been exhumed in 1967,” the letter said. “Further expansion work in the SAQ Distribution Center car park in 1999 led to the accidental discovery of human remains. The SAQ admitted at the time that its technicians and engineers had no special expertise in forensics.”

According to Clemens Beaulieu Gendron, the SAQ's media relations officer, the excavation was suspended after the SAQ received the letter.

“One thing's for sure: We want to do everything right,” Gendron said.

Named after former Quebec premier Maurice Duplessis, the Duplessis orphans were mistakenly labeled “mentally retarded” by government doctors and transferred to a mental hospital run by the Catholic Church from 1949 to 1956.

Some of these orphans lived in Saint-Jean-de-Dieu, run by the Soeurs de la Charite de la Providence.

In a 1980 court document, sister Marie Paule Levacke said that between 1873 and 1958, about 2,000 bodies were buried in the cemetery, many of which were unclaimed by their families.

The orphans living there called it the “pig burial ground” because animals also lived there.

Both groups believe there may still be Indigenous and non-Indigenous children on the site.

Philippe Blouin, a professor at McGill University, is working with the two groups and said there has never been a public inquiry into what happened to the children, who are part of a “deep scar in Quebec history.”

“There was no admission of guilt on the part of the Quebec government in creating this situation,” he said. “At that time, orphans were not necessarily orphans, a very small percentage actually had no parents, as all children born out of wedlock were taken in by the state and often given up for adoption or medical practice. unfortunately, especially psychiatry, in Quebec.”

Former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard issued a public apology to the orphans on March 4, 1999, but “without blaming or holding anyone legally responsible.”

Both groups want information about the excavations to be made public, a qualified, bioarchaeologist present during any work, and a local cultural observer appointed by Kanien'keha:ka Kanistensera.

“Given that there is a high probability of anonymous burials

Indigenous and non-Indigenous children at the site, we are working to establish a collaborative archaeological and forensic protocol to protect human remains prior to excavation,” the letter said.

The same set-up was arranged during the excavations at the old Royal Victoria Hospital.

“These survivors want closure and especially want the evidence of what happened to them to be protected,” Blouin said. “Duplessis orphans are paired with Mohawk mothers because they have identified a shared history of missing Indigenous children in Quebec's health care system, often renamed, often treated as orphans, and lumped together with orphans. ”