A mass grave containing the remains of 215 children has been uncovered in British Columbia, Canada.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was set up to assimilate indigenous people into Western society and closed down in 1978.
Authorities are now looking into what caused the deaths of the children. As the grave contains so many bodies, it appears highly unlikely that the deaths were from natural causes.
None of the deaths were officially recorded, showing that the authorities didn't know or didn't care about the deaths at the time.
The remains were found during a survey of the school and were detected by radar.
These residential schools were set up in the 19th and 20th centuries to make indigenous youth conform to the norms of Western Canadian society. They were famed for their brutality and sadism, which often involved beatings, torture and sexual abuse. Between 1863 and 1998 as many as 150,000 children were taken from their families and put in these schools. While there, they were banned from practicing their own customs or speaking their own language. The Canadian government apologised for this system in 2008.
Kamloops Indian Residential School was the largest in the residential system and was established by the Roman Catholic church in 1890. At any one time, as many as 500 young people were held there.
Rosanne Casimir, the chief of the community in British Columbia's city of Kamloops, said:
"To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths. Some were as young as three years old. We sought out a way to confirm that knowing out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families, understanding that Tk'emlups te Secwepemc is the final resting place of these children."
The First Nations Health Authority (FNHA) CEO Richard Jock issued a statement which stated:
"That this situation exists is sadly not a surprise and illustrates the damaging and lasting impacts that the residential school system continues to have on First Nations people, their families and communities."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted:
The news that remains were found at the former Kamloops residential school breaks my heart - it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history. I am thinking about everyone affected by this distressing news. We are here for you. https://t.co/ZUfDRyAfET
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) May 28, 2021
Canada's minister of indigenous relations, Carolyn Bennett, added that residential schools were a shameful part of Canada's history and that historical injustices should be rectified.
[h/t: BBC]
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