The SAQ in Montreal is calling for an archaeological dig for possible children's graves at the distribution center

The Kanien'keha:ka Kahnisensera, known as the Mohawk Mothers, are renewing calls for an archaeological dig at the SAQ's distribution center in Montreal.

The provincial crown corporation responsible for selling alcohol stopped excavating as part of an expansion project after the Mohawk Mothers, and the Duplessis Orphans Committee of Violence Victims sent them a letter saying they could bury the remains of Native and non-Native children.

“We're looking for our children, and they're looking for people they've lived with, and they could be here here,” Quetio, a member of Mohawk Mothers, said at a press conference outside the broadcast. Center in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

“I must help these gentlemen and all the survivors of the Duplessis orphans,” said Quetio. “That background should speak for itself, so anyone we can get access to can help facilitate or facilitate this investigation.”

The site in question, on rue Futaille in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, was used as the unofficial cemetery of the Asylum Saint-Jean-de-Dieu in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. It was also called the “pig sty” because it was also a pig sty at the time.

Duplessis often sent orphans.

They were several thousand children wrongly certified as mentally ill by the Quebec government and admitted to and sometimes experimented on in psychiatric institutions in the 1940s and 50s.

Many, like survivor Herve Bertrand, were physically and sexually abused in church-run orphanages.

“I was at Saint-Jean-de-Dieu in 1959 after a serious riot,” Bertrand said. “One day one of my friends was moving the stretchers and bringing the children to the pig here. I should have been in the pit. A good Samaritan saved me.”

Official exhumations of the more than 2,000 bodies buried there took place in the late 1960s, before it became the property of the SAQ.

“In 1999, there was a large-scale expansion project led by François Legault, who was the minister at the time, and as a result more human remains were found,” said Philippe Blouin, an anthropologist and translator of the Mohawk Mothers. “At the time the SAQ said they were animal remains, but the Duplessis orphans, who had requested exhumation, were never provided with evidence and were never covered.

“Perhaps in the 90s and 70s, there was no ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and technology to accurately locate a cemetery, so now it's a simple request to use these tools. respect the human remains that may be here”

Mohawk Mothers wants to monitor a possible investigation.

“Being really respectful and having cultural observers on site and having our own archeologist overseeing everything because that's what I care about,” Quetio said.

The SAQ tells CityNews that they are developing an action plan and that it is too early to make a decision on whether to proceed with the work. They said in a statement: “One thing is clear: we want to do well.”

The SAQ previously told CityNews it had decided not to carry out the excavation after receiving letters from the groups.

“I feel welcome from the SAQ to contact us, contact us, we need to get involved and get it right,” Quetio said. “Close a little for the gentlemen sitting here.”