On October 15, the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Council demolished Community Presbyterian Church’s Attic Resale Shop after the discovery of human remains buried underneath.
The tribe says the plan is to work with the church to replace part of the parking lot and create a grassy final resting place.
Investigations started after a sinkhole formed in the church’s parking lot, signaling that a burial site could exist.
Throughout the summer, the Tribal Historic Preservation Office conducted Ground Penetrating Radar surveys and found indications of multiple graves.
Community Presbyterian Church was founded in 1872 by missionaries.
It sits in the center of the Lac du Flambeau reservation.
Beside the main church, up until yesterday, there used to be a building called the Attic Resale Shop, where church volunteers sold donated goods to primarily fund scholarships for local students.
However, when they discovered that the Attic was on top of a burial site, the tribe decided it would be best if the building was demolished.
This is audio from the church’s recorded sermons of Steve Schunk, a church leader, addressing the congregation last week.
“There are concerns on the part of the tribe that they have been moved or people have been disrespecting areas on that side of the barrier. So we need to be very careful that we don't do that and that we are going to be representing ourselves as people who are respecting the situation. And so that we can look everybody in the eye, look at the tribe in the eye and say, we're not moving the barriers,” said Schunk.
While the church has agreed to work with the Tribal Council, internally, there’ve been disputes.
A few weeks ago, church leaders submitted a letter to the Tribal Council.
They asked if they could keep their resale store intact, maybe relocate the Attic building instead of fully tearing it down.
However, the tribe would need to donate land to the church for that to happen.
I talked with Allison Bonnette, a tribal member who was watching the demolition.
“I can't imagine watching this happen in my church. I lived in a farm community. So if I saw something like this, and I just… It would break my heart because that's where we had meetings, where we took care of people, bottom line is that’s what you do,” she said.
On the tribe’s official Facebook page, many expressed their grief that their ancestors’ resting places had not been appropriately cared for.
They thanked the Tribal Council and those involved for their work in ensuring that ancestors were treated with respect and dignity.
WXPR contacted the public spokesperson for the tribe, their Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, church members and leaders, and the greater Presbytery of Northern Waters.
People chose not to comment or didn’t respond.
