THE LOST CHILDREN: Stephanie Gutierrez attaches a ribbon to one of the 215 pairs of shoes that have been placed outside the Kamloops Indian Residence School. Foto: DARRYL DYCK / The Canadian Press
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The remains of 215 children were found last week on the site of a former boarding school for indigenous peoples. “Everyone” knows that there are more, writes Canadian media.
Just updated
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Last week, a discovery was made that shook Canada:
The remains of 215 children was found buried in an area belonging to a former boarding school for indigenous peoples.
– Some of them were only three years old, said Rosanne Casimir, who is the leader of the tribe Tk’emlups te Secwepemc, when she mentioned the find.
It is her tribe that has organized the search for the remains, which was found using a georadar.
Between 1890 and 1969, children of indigenous families in Canada were sent to The Kamloops Indian Residential School to become “good Christians,” as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society. A public commission has previously found that at least 51 children died at this particular school, writes the news agency AP.
Background: Remains of 215 children found at closed school
—-HORROR FINDINGS: The former school in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, where the remains of 215 children have been found. Foto: Andrew Snucins / The Canadian Press / AP
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And they were not the only ones: Up until the 1970s, over 150,000 thousand children belonging to Canada’s various indigenous tribes were sent to state-funded boarding schools. These were Christians, and the children had to convert. They were also not allowed to speak their own mother tongue.
Several cases of physical and mental abuse have also been reported at the schools, and in total it is estimated that around 6,000 children never returned to their families, writes the news agency AP.
The children’s experiences at schools are cited as one of the explanations for the fact that many of those who currently live in the country’s indigenous reserves struggle with mental health problems, alcohol and drug abuse.
Will find more unmarked graves
According to indigenous groups, there have been rumors of unmarked mass graves at the closed boarding schools for many years.
“So many times stories about this place and so many other places have been told orally, and it seemed as if no one believed in anyone,” Marie Narcisse told Canadian CBC during a memorial service for the victims Saturday.
She was a student at the school, and so were her parents.
—-MEMORIAL: A poster with 215 hearts in Kingston, Ontario on Monday. On the stairs, 215 pairs of shoes have been set up. Foto: Lars Hagberg / The Canadian Press
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Jackie Bromley, who attended St. Mary’s Residential School in Alberta, says CBC that the discovery made her wonder if something similar exists in the area of her former school.
– I was thinking about the backyard. There must have been some graves there. And the first thing I thought was: I wonder if there are any children who were buried?
According to CBC, several experts and indigenous leaders are now advocating that areas around other boarding schools be protected, so that similar searches can be made there. They also request that the authorities fund the equipment needed, such as georadars and drones.
“Everyone” knows that there are several remains out there, the channel writes.
“This is certainly not an isolated incident,” Linc Kesler, a professor at the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia, told the channel.
– This is not the last place
Opposition politician Jagmeet Singh, who leads the New Democrat party, is also calling for more searches.
– This is not the last place, there are many more that still have to be found. Indigenous communities deserve that every single such place is found, he says.
—-WANT MORE SEARCH: Canadian opposition politician Jagmeet Singh in Ottawa’s Parliament on Monday. He believes symbolic politics is not enough, and has asked the authorities to fund searches for remains in the areas of several former schools. Foto: Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press
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– 215 indigenous children were found in an unmarked mass grave. When we think of unmarked mass graves, we think of a country far away where a genocide has taken place. This is not a country far away, Singh continues.
A truth and reconciliation commission has previously identified the names or information of at least 3,200 children who died as a result of abuse or neglect while attending such boarding schools, writes NTB.
In 2008, the Government of Canada officially apologized for what the Commission has since called a “cultural genocide”.
– Unfortunately, this is not an exception or an isolated incident. We are not going to hide from it, we must acknowledge the truth. These schools were a reality – a tragedy that existed here, in our country, and we must own it. Children were taken from their families, and they were sent back with injuries, or not sent back at all, he says Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, according to the AP news agency.
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