Presently no one really knows. I remember reading in one article somewhere that you can spot a few burial mounds. This article mentions that coffins were among the supplies that would get dropped off every three months. So one would assume there are unmarked graves on the island, and that the exiles were not put out to sea or cremated.
That same Seattle Times article also mentions something completely new to me: "An American missionary who applied to move to D'Arcy Island to care for the dying inhabitants was denied permission."
That fact really rankles. Not only were there journalists and doctors decrying what was going on, but now we know an actual missionary - in persona Christi - wanted to go to live there to care for the inhabitants. How utterly Canadian, with that British Imperialist Colonialism, which still hangs over our 21st century, the revelation of its injustices testing us in our presumptions about polite Canadian culture (and big surprise, both the wagon-circlers and the white woke arsonists fail the test!): to not only exile the Chinese immigrants to their deaths and suffering, but to cloak their own racist decision-making by denying the freely offered care of a missionary, which they realized would show up their cold cruelty.
Most B.C. people - most Canadians in general - do not know about D'Arcy Island and its history. It's one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. 83 hectares and about 16 kilometers from Victoria, D'Arcy Island is where you would get exiled if you were Chinese and had leprosy. Exiled is not a hyperbolic term in this case. You were sent there to die - and here's some supplies and a "doctor check-up" every three months. You were not sent there to be cared for.
But if you were white and had leprosy? Well, well, well, you would get sent to Tracadie Island in New Brunswick and get cared for by nurses in habits in a hospital with food prepared for you, in a place where the conditions were such that you weren't forced to eke out the rudiments of your own existence just to stay alive on top of having debilitating leprosy. You were cared for if you were white. Not if you were Chinese.
Here's just one hint of the harshness. We're talking about a little pacific island. There's a ton of them. This is rainforest country. But what many people don't realize about "rainforest" country is that summer means drought, essentially. This island, like so many of the other small islands, has no natural springs, no wells, no ground source of fresh water. They had to dig a pit on the island to collect rainwater during the winter months to supply themselves with water during summer. That's not fresh water. Just think about that. How often do you take a shower or a bath during hot weather without a thought? Now imagine you not only stink with natural body odour, but you have leprous wounds that want cleansing? You really think sea water would suit you well enough? Maybe if you were given enough opium?
Here's a good introductory article to D'Arcy Island: Island of Death: BC's Forgotten Racist Leper Colony
"And yet it was so mundane."
Here's an article reflecting on the history of D'Arcy Island in light of the Covid pandemic: Professor draws parallels between B.C.’s leprosy island, COVID-19 racism
"And yet it was so mundane."
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