Another terrible find: more than 750 children's graves on the territory of a former school

Just over a month has passed since the shocking news that 215 Indian children were found buried on the grounds of the former Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia. Indigenous people across Canada began exploring other school grounds after the incident, and the federal government has pledged $4.88 million CAD to the search.

This time the find was even more gruesome: a 751 unmarked grave on the grounds of a former boarding school in Saskatchewan. It was announced June 24 by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Peoples and the Cowessess Indian Community. Cowesses began searching for the graves back on June 2 with the help of the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Institute. They used geolocation detection technology, which allows for a 10-15% margin of error, so there may be more or fewer graves, but at least 600.

Mariwal School, where the burials were discovered, is located 160 km from Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan. It was run by the Catholic Church and existed from 1898 to 1996. Like other Indian boarding schools, it forcibly admitted aboriginal children in order to adapt them to Canadian society. In total, more than 150,000 children passed through the schools across the country.

Cowesess Chief Cadmus Delorme said he is not sure if all the graves belong to children, because there are rumors of adults being buried as well. There is now no way to ascertain who is buried in the graves because the headstones have been removed and excavation is illegal. However, the indigenous peoples are calling on the government to investigate. Delorme said children from southwest Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan were mostly sent to Mariwal.

According to survivors of such boarding schools, the monks mistreated the children, forcing them into the Catholic faith, forbidding them to say their own prayers, despising all their people and convincing them that their parents would not be saved because they were pagans. Physical, sexual and emotional abuse was widespread in the schools, and children were not given proper medical care.

On the same day that the unnamed graves in Saskatchewan became known, Archbishop Don Bolen of Regina sent a letter to Delorme apologizing for the "failures and sins" of church leaders and staff and promising to do everything possible to make the apology translate into concrete action. Bolen said that with the help of the diocese, they would be able to access information to help identify those buried. The Archdiocese of Regina has already contributed $70,000 CAD to the First Nations Fund to restore the cemetery in Maryvale.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously acknowledged that there had been an indigenous genocide and approved a National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, a holiday to honour the victims of residential schools.

The prime minister also reacted to the new discovery, calling the Maryvale and Kamloops finds "a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination and injustice" faced by Indians. Trudeau also said he was "terribly saddened" and pledged that the government would continue to provide funding and resources to Indian communities for further searches.