We participate in volunteer work and facilitate compensated work with our individual member contractors, depending on project needs, resources, and organizational structure.
Across all projects, the emphasis remains the same: historical care, professional collaboration, and respectful use of specialized canine detection.
We are a not of profit organization and many services are provided on a pro bono basis.
Cairn Canine Detection Board members started researching the dark history of Native American boarding schools in 2020 and soon after engaged in a project with the Yakama Cultural Resources Management Program working with Jon Shellenberger, Project Manager and Archaeologist for the Fort Simcoe Boarding School Project. Cairn Canine Detection is very aware of the importance of respecting cultural practices and understanding that Native American cultures are diverse and have their own unique rituals, ceremonies, and beliefs.
We have assisted with projects involving historic cemeteries such as Snohomish Pioneer Cemetery, Seabeck Cemetery, Bethel Cemetery, Duwamish Pauper Cemetery and Pioneer Calvary Cemetery. These efforts help communities better understand where unmarked burials may be located so that sites can be documented, protected, and restored with dignity.
We have provided consultation related to Washington State efforts connected to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMWIP) and truth and reconcilation work. Future involvement in this area will continue to occur in collaboration with indigenous communties, appropriate agencies, and those directly responsible for this work.
We have collaborated on a project with the Northern State Hospital Cemetery Restoration Project Lead, John Horne, to explore the use of our historically trained human remains detection dogs to locate unmarked graves in the fenced in cemetery and also to determine if there are unmarked graves outside the designated cemetery. Northern State Hospital at one time was the largest asylum in Washington State and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Seattle Times article.