AMC Congratulates Sioux Valley Dakota Nation as Turtle Crossing Lands Move Toward Protection
September 30, 2026
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba
Jesse Nobess
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2026
AMC Congratulates Sioux Valley Dakota Nation as Turtle Crossing Lands Move Toward Protection
Treaty One Territory, Manitoba — (September 30, 2026) Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Grand Chief Kyra Wilson congratulates Chief Jennifer Bone and Sioux Valley Dakota Nation following today’s announcement that the Province of Manitoba, working with the City of Brandon, will acquire the Turtle Crossing Campground lands, where potential unmarked burials connected to the former Brandon Indian Residential School have been identified.
The announcement marks a significant development in work Sioux Valley Dakota Nation has led since 2012 to identify children who died while attending the Brandon Indian Residential School and to locate and protect their burial places.
“This has been a long time coming. I congratulate Chief Jennifer Bone, her Council and the entire Sioux Valley Dakota Nation for their persistence and for continuing to carry this responsibility on behalf of the children, Survivors and families,” said AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson. “This moment was made possible by people who refused to give up, even when the path forward was difficult.”
Sioux Valley’s work has spanned more than a decade and multiple generations of leadership. Through archival research, Survivor knowledge, ceremony and ground investigations, the Nation has worked to identify the children who died at the institution and determine where they were laid to rest.
Archival research has identified 113 children who died while attending the Brandon Indian Residential School. A 2019 assessment of the Turtle Crossing property identified 55 potential unmarked burials, but portions of the property could not be fully investigated. As the campground remained privately owned, Sioux Valley faced ongoing challenges securing the access required to complete further ground searches.
Those challenges brought Sioux Valley members and supporters to Turtle Crossing on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2022, where the Nation called for access to the lands and for the children buried there to be treated with dignity and respect. Sioux Valley continued advocating in the years that followed for the lands to be secured so the work could continue.
“For fourteen years, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation has carried this work because these children could not be forgotten or left behind a second time,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “I want to recognize not only Chief Bone and the leadership of today, but the former Chiefs and Councils, Elders, Survivors, families, researchers, technicians, community members and supporters who carried this work from one year to the next. Today is a result of that collective determination.”
Grand Chief Wilson also thanked the Province of Manitoba for taking concrete action and acknowledged the City of Brandon for its role in moving the acquisition forward.
“I thank the Province of Manitoba for listening to Sioux Valley Dakota Nation and acting to help remove a barrier that has stood in the way of completing this work. I also acknowledge the City of Brandon for working with the Nation and the Province to reach this point,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “First Nations should not have to fight for access to lands where our children may be buried.”
The Brandon Indian Residential School did not affect one community alone. Children from many First Nations were taken to the institution, and the search for those who never returned home carries profound importance for Survivors, families and Nations across Manitoba and beyond.
“Behind every number is a child. Every one of those children had a name. They had parents, grandparents, siblings, a Nation, a language and a home they should have returned to,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “That is why this is more than research or a ground search. This is heart work. It is sacred work.”
The acquisition of the Turtle Crossing lands is an important step, but it does not conclude that work. Further searches and decisions concerning the protection, ceremony, commemoration and future of the lands must continue to be guided by Sioux Valley Dakota Nation, Survivors, affected families and the First Nations whose children attended the Brandon Indian Residential School.
The AMC calls for continued resources and cooperation from all levels of government to ensure Sioux Valley can undertake the next phase of its work without further unnecessary barriers.
“To the Survivors and families who have carried the names, memories and unanswered questions of these children for generations, today is also yours,” said Grand Chief Wilson. “And to Chief Jennifer Bone and Sioux Valley Dakota Nation: congratulations. Your Nation kept this work moving forward when it would have been easier for others to look away.”
“Today does not close this chapter. There are still children to find, families who deserve answers and sacred places that must be protected. But because Sioux Valley Dakota Nation kept going, the heart work can continue.”
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