Couple finds 400 year old skeleton in their backyard

Locutus

Adorable Deplorable
Jun 18, 2007
32,230
45
48
65
Ojibwa skeleton.

Cool story bro you might say. Until the 'law' gets involved. :lol:

Kudos to the Aamjiwnaang First Nation and Conservative MPP Bob Bailey but I think the province had a chance to step in as a good guy and blew it.


The story of Nicole Sauve, who found 400-year-old bones in her Point Edward backyard, was ordered to hire an archaeologist, and is now saddled with a $5,000 bill

A Sarnia couple who set out to build a fence dug up more than they bargained for recently when they unearthed a 400-year-old skeleton and got stuck with a $5,000 bill from the province.

The archeological misadventure began two weeks ago when Ken Campbell came across some bones while digging post holes in their backyard.

He put them aside, thinking they must have belonged to an animal. The following week, his wife, Nicole Sauve, asked about the bones, which sat unceremoniously atop a bucket of earth

“I said, ‘They’re not animal bones, Ken. Let’s dig some more and see what we can find,’ ”she said.

What they found was the rest of the skeleton of an aboriginal woman.

The OPP, who taped off the couple’s backyard, called in forensic anthropologist Michael Spence to examine the site.

Spence told the Star that the skeleton was that of a woman who was about 24 years old when she died, probably in the late 1500s or early 1600s.

The condition of her teeth led him to suspect she was part of hunting, gathering and fishing society.

The couple lives by the Blue Water Bridge, an area that once was the centre of an Ojibwa trade network. Spence said the woman is probably a descendant of those merchants.

After Spence determined there was no recent foul play involved, the Registrar of Cemeteries was contacted. They told Sauve she had to hire an archeologist to conduct an assessment in her backyard — at her own expense.

Under Ontario’s Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, property owners are responsible for the costs of an archeological assessment if human remains are found on their land.

Sauve, whose final bill is for $5,000, has appealed to the mayor of Sarnia to pay the archeologist. She’s steadfast in her belief that it doesn’t matter what level of government steps in to pay, as long as she doesn’t have to.

“I did the right thing by her . . . and this is what’s happening,” she said.

Sauve said she’s heard that people from the nearby Aamjiwnaang First Nation are raising money to pay the bill, but they haven’t approached her directly. No one from the band council office was available Friday to confirm those efforts.

Bob Bailey, the MPP for the area, saw her story in the local newspaper and his staff did some research into the couple’s predicament. He found out that Sauve can make a request to the Registrar of Cemeteries to determine if paying for the excavation would be considered an “undue financial burden.” The registrar will then either reimburse her or pay the bill directly.

Bailey said he has spoken to the minister of consumer services (the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act falls under her purview) and her staff, and intends to make sure Sauve won’t have to pay.

Sauve originally wanted to keep the skeleton of the woman — whom she named Sephira, after her granddaughter — where she was, but found out her land would have to be re-surveyed and another deed issued stating there’s a cemetery on the land.

She reluctantly agreed to have the bones disinterred and reinterred at the cemetery on the Aamjiwnaang First Nation. The woman is likely distantly related to the residents of the reserve nearby.

They performed a traditional ceremony at her house when they first found the bones, and then again after they moved her. The cemetery has a space specially designated for repatriated remains, where the skeleton now rests.

Sauve said people have been telling her that if they end up in a similar situation, they won’t alert authorities and risk having to fork over the cash to pay the bill.

“That is awful,” she said. “God forbid you have a murder victim, and you cover them up. Never will that person be brought home; never will their family have closure.”


400-year-old skeleton of aboriginal woman found in Sarnia backyard costs couple $5,000 | Toronto Star
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
17,135
33
48
Bailey said he has spoken to the minister of consumer services (the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act falls under her purview) and her staff, and intends to make sure Sauve won’t have to pay.
they did have to sing for it though

Shoulda just chucked the bones in the rubbish.
and cover up a possible murder, no, one should strive to do the right thing even though it is irritating to jump through hoops
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
75,301
547
113
Vernon, B.C.
they did have to sing for it though


and cover up a possible murder, no, one should strive to do the right thing even though it is irritating to jump through hoops

Well, I doubt if the culprit would have enough life in him to do much time! -:)
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
17,135
33
48
Well, I doubt if the culprit would have enough life in him to do much time! -:)
when you find bones, you have no idea how old they are so it is incumbent upon you to do the right thing

but I know what you are saying. :)
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,396
6,979
113
Washington DC
and cover up a possible murder, no, one should strive to do the right thing even though it is irritating to jump through hoops
It's usually not too tough to tell when bones are over a century old. At that point, who cares? As some people said with regard to Nazi death camp guards, "It was a long time ago."
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
17,135
33
48
It's usually not too tough to tell when bones are over a century old. At that point, who cares? As some people said with regard to Nazi death camp guards, "It was a long time ago."
I would be like her husband, unable to tell a human from an animal bone let alone know the age.

Ya know it's funny, I couldn't care less what they do with my body once I'm dead, I believe it is irrelevant, but I would still feel the need to be respectful with the bones of someone else in case they believed other than me.
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
55,396
6,979
113
Washington DC
I would be like her husband, unable to tell a human from an animal bone let alone know the age.

Ya know it's funny, I couldn't care less what they do with my body once I'm dead, I believe it is irrelevant, but I would still feel the need to be respectful with the bones of someone else in case they believed other than me.

Woke up this morning
Put on my slippers
Walked in the kitchen and died
And oh what a feeling!
When my soul
Went thru the ceiling
And on up into heaven I did ride
When I got there they did say
John, it happened this way
You slipped upon the floor
And hit your head
And all the angels say
Just before you passed away
These were the very last words
That you said:

Chorus:
Please don't bury me
Down in that cold cold ground
No, I'd druther have "em" cut me up
And pass me all around
Throw my brain in a hurricane
And the blind can have my eyes
And the deaf can take both of my ears
If they don't mind the size
Give my stomach to Milwaukee
If they run out of beer
Put my socks in a cedar box
Just get "em" out of here
Venus de Milo can have my arms
Look out! I've got your nose
Sell my heart to the junkman
And give my love to Rose

Give my feet to the footloose
Careless, fancy free
Give my knees to the needy
Don't pull that stuff on me
Hand me down my walking cane
It's a sin to tell a lie
Send my mouth way down south
And kiss my *** goodbye

--John Prine
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
17,135
33
48
Woke up this morning
Put on my slippers
Walked in the kitchen and died
And oh what a feeling!
When my soul
Went thru the ceiling
And on up into heaven I did ride
When I got there they did say
John, it happened this way
You slipped upon the floor
And hit your head
And all the angels say
Just before you passed away
These were the very last words
That you said:

Chorus:
Please don't bury me
Down in that cold cold ground
No, I'd druther have "em" cut me up
And pass me all around
Throw my brain in a hurricane
And the blind can have my eyes
And the deaf can take both of my ears
If they don't mind the size
Give my stomach to Milwaukee
If they run out of beer
Put my socks in a cedar box
Just get "em" out of here
Venus de Milo can have my arms
Look out! I've got your nose
Sell my heart to the junkman
And give my love to Rose

Give my feet to the footloose
Careless, fancy free
Give my knees to the needy
Don't pull that stuff on me
Hand me down my walking cane
It's a sin to tell a lie
Send my mouth way down south
And kiss my *** goodbye

--John Prine
lol...yeah, like that... :D