Alma Beaulieu and family can now rest in peace

Little Alma Beaulieu has finally been put to rest beside her mother at the Fort Smith cemetery.

Her small white cross features the same nameplate as discovered at the gravesite of her former residential school hundreds of kilometres away.

Alma had been taken to the St Joseph’s residential school in June 1942 at the age of three and passed away in August 1944 at the age of five years and nine months.

Deninu Kųę́ First Nation Chief Louis Balsillie stated on Monday the family now has closure.

“We gathered for the family of Alma Beaulieu to be put to rest with her mother Mary Louise Beaulieu,” Balsillie posted to social media.

“I’m so happy to be part of this big day for the Beaulieu family from Fort Smith, they can finally put closure for their sister, auntie, daughter to rest with her mommy.”

In the fall of 2022 the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation began a search for children who died while in attendance at the residential school and were never returned home.

While mapping the Fort Resolution Cemetery, they located a rotting cross in the grass in the cemetery with Alma’s nameplate, along with disintegrated crosses and nameplates of other children.

However, in February of this year, Tu Nedhé – Wiilideh MLA Richard Edjericon raised eyebrows in the NWT Assembly when he said the grave at the former school site is classified as an archeological artifact, which couldn’t be disturbed.

He said: “Alma now is 88 years old. Her sister had promised her mother that she would find Alma and bring her remains back to Fort Smith to be buried beside her mom.”

An ‘artifact’? Sites such as Alma’s grave are considered ancestral remains and protected under the to-be-updated Archeological Sites Act.

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In July, Justice Minister Jay Macdonald — who represents Fort Smith and was its former deputy mayor — committed to getting Alma home over the summer.

In 1944, no one from the residential school had informed Alma’s family in Fort Smith of her passing.

Alma’s mother heard from the children returning to Fort Smith for the Sept long weekend that she had died. She went into shock and never fully recovered emotionally.

On Alma’s death certificate, the cause of death is listed as Tuberculosis.

However, the family were never told that Alma contracted Tuberculosis nor that she had died of it.

(PLEASE NOTE: The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24/7 at 1-866-925-4419 for anyone needing emotional or crisis support. The GNWT also has a Territorial Residential School Crisis Line at 1-800-464-8106.)