Children's graves continue to be found in schools in Canada
About 200 children are buried in a former Indian residential school.
Another discovery at the site of a former boarding school does not seem to surprise the public so much anymore. This is the third case in Canada recently. In late May, a burial for 215 children was discovered at Kamloops Boarding School in British Columbia, a month later it became known of 751 graves at Mariwal School in Saskatchewan.
On June 30, a team of researchers reported the remains of 182 children in an unmarked grave at the site of the former St. Eugene Mission Boarding School in the town of Cranbrook, also in the province of British Columbia. Some of them were buried shallow, which allowed preliminary identification of the children as members of the Ktunaxa Nation, as well as Indian communities living nearby.
Representatives of Ktunaxa said that the school opened in 1890 and operated from 1910 to 1970. Thousands of children between the ages of 7 and 15 were forced to attend. Many were subjected to ill-treatment, which sometimes resulted in death. There were also reportedly repeated outbreaks of infectious diseases such as influenza, measles and tuberculosis at the orphanage.
The school was run by the Catholic Church and funded by the state. In 2000, St. Eugene Resort opened on its site.
Perry Bellegarde, head of the National Indigenous Caucus, said those who went through residential schools have been talking about the deaths of children for years, and recent findings have confirmed this. He believes the sites of all the Indian schools that existed in Canada should be surveyed. There were 139 in all, and 150,000 aboriginal children attended them.
"The whole boarding school system was genocide, I call it that," Bellegarde said. — We see the trauma passed down from generation to generation, and to this day we feel the consequences."
He also said that a delegation from Canada intends to visit the Vatican in December to demand an apology from the Pope for the Catholic Church's role in what happened in the boarding schools. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already talked to the Pope about such a request. The Anglican, Presbyterian churches and the United Church of Christ have all issued apologies.
Against the backdrop of the discovery of children's graves in Canada, the burning of Catholic churches has begun. Bellegarde called such actions unacceptable.
"I can understand frustration, anger, resentment and pain," he said. — But burning is not our way. Our way is to build relationships and come together."
On June 3, Canada established a holiday to honour victims of residential schools. It will be celebrated on September 30. And Canada Day, which is traditionally celebrated on July 1, this year was not as usual.
