Lower Post postpones school demolition ceremony after animal remains found

LOWER POST, B.C. — A ceremony to mark the demolition of a former residential school building in a British Columbia First Nation community has been postponed after animal remains were found by construction workers.

The ceremony in the tiny community of Lower Post near the B.C-Yukon boundary was set for Monday, but the band council says in a statement it cancelled the gathering because of the discovery.

Last April, the federal and B.C. governments announced the construction of a $13.5-million, multipurpose community centre to replace the building many local elders feared as a place where they suffered physical and sexual abuse.

The Daylu Dena Council says a recent outbreak of COVID-19 cases in Yukon and the “trauma” caused by the discovery of the remains led to the decision to postpone the ceremony.