Mitchell Henry Joseph was just nine years old when a fellow resident of Alberni Indian Residential School found him hanging from a cloth towel dispenser around suppertime on May 26, 1969.

The death was ruled an “accidental hanging” after a coroner’s inquest, and that’s where matters stood for the last half century. But inconsistencies in the testimony and survivor experiences at the Port Alberni, B.C., institution mean that community members have been waiting for further investigation into Joseph’s final moments for decades.