CALGARY (Alberta) The remains of up to 751 people, mostly Indigenous children, were found at the site of a former school located in Saskatchewan. This was according to a Canadian Indigenous group. It is a shocking discovery for a country that has suffered from decades of systematic and widespread abuse of Indigenous people.This discovery was the most significant to date. It came just weeks after 215 remains were discovered in unmarked graves at a former British Columbia boarding school.These schools were part of an entire system that removed Indigenous children from their families for a period of approximately 113 years. They were then placed in church-run schools where they were forbidden from speaking their native languages.The National Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2008 to investigate and expose the history and consequences residential schools. It is also known as cultural genocide because many children did not return home and their families were only given vague or no explanations. Between their opening in 1883 and their closing in 1996, Canada had approximately 150 residential schools. An estimated 150,000 Indigenous children were educated at the schools.This was a crime against humanity and an attack on First Nation peoples, Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (provincial federation of Indigenous groups) stated during a Thursday news conference. As children, the only crime we committed was being born Indigenous.It is not clear how the children died in the church-run schools. They were plagued by epidemics of disease a century ago and children suffered sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Former students at the schools described infants who were born to impregnated girls by monks and priests as being burned.According to the commission, approximately 4,100 children were reported missing from schools across the country. Murray Sinclair, an Indigenous ex-jude who headed the commission, stated in an email this month, however, that he now believes the number is well over 10,000.Continue the storyThe Cowesses First Nation discovered Saskatchewan at the Marieval Indian Residence School, approximately 87 miles from Regina, the provincial capital.On Thursday, local Indigenous leaders demanded an inquiry into the genocide they call. They also asked for the church to hand over all records relating to the administration and management of schools.Chief Cadmus delorme of the Cowessess First Nation also demanded that Pope Francis apologize for his actions, saying that the Roman Catholic church must address them. Delorme stated that his Indigenous community was motivated by the discovery of Kamloops. He began combing the area with ground penetrating radar June 2nd, and hit as many as 751 unmarked burials. He stated that he expected to find more bodies.Canada's approximately 4.9% Indigenous population is affected by the discovery of another mass burial site. It is a stark reminder of centuries of discrimination, abuse and intergenerational trauma suffered by survivors of residential schools.This is also a strong vindication of their testimony. The recent findings are a significant boost to attention on the issue. However, Indigenous people have been suggesting for decades, through their oral histories, that thousands of children disappeared from schools. This was often met with suspicion.Cameron stated that there is no doubt about this: All the stories of our survivors are true.These latest findings will likely deepen the nation's debate about its history of exploiting Indigenous People and refocus attention to the horrors of schools. This is a stain in Canada's history, which has been seen, fair or not, as a bastion for progressivism and multiculturalism.Florence Sparvier, 80 an elder of Cowesses First Nation, stated that she was a graduate of two residential schools, Marieval and the school where the unmarked remains are found.She said that they were very harsh about our people and the nuns in the schools. They said that our grandparents, our parents and our people didn't have any way to be spiritual, as we were all heathens.Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, acknowledged the past humiliation, neglect, and abuse suffered by Indigenous peoples. He also pledged in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that he would improve the lives and well-being of the country's Indigenous people. These latest findings will increase pressure on him to speed up those efforts which many Indigenous people claim have been slow.Trudeau made it a priority to implement the 94 national Truth and Reconciliation Commissions recommendations when he took office in 2015. Progress has been slow because many of the recommendations are out of federal government control. Despite Trudeaus' promises to change it to a new system, the Indian Act, which is a collection law dating back to the 19th Century that governs the lives of Indigenous people, remains in place. Cameron and other Indigenous leaders hope that the discovery of the remains of children will speed up the process.Delorme stated that we are sick of being told what and how to do things.Ground-penetrating radar was used to discover the remains of 215 children at Kamloops Indian School in British Columbia. The technology creates images of soil anomalies, much like an MRI scan.The search for the Kamloops school continues. First Nation leaders stated that they expect the count to increase.The Conservative government refused to fund the search for missing Indigenous children when the commission attempted to investigate the matter. Several Canadian governments offered to fund searches after the discovery of Kamloops at the end May.The federal government announced Tuesday that it would give just under 4.9million Canadian dollars (approximately $3.9 million) to Indigenous Saskatchewan communities to search for graves. The previous commitment by the provincial government was 2 million Canadian dollars (about $1.6 million).The Marieval school was established in 1899 and opened in Kamloops. It was managed for most of its existence by the Roman Catholic Church for Canada. The school's grounds still contain a marked cemetery, but it was demolished in 1997.The commission demanded a papal apology for its role in operating about 70% of the schools. (The remainder were managed by Protestant denominations. Despite a personal appeal by Trudeau to Vatican, Francis has not yet taken this step. In contrast, the United Church of Canada leadership, Canada's largest Protestant denomination, has apologized for its role in the running of schools in 1986.Cameron stated that he has been touring the province since the Kamloops announcement and looking at old school sites.He said Wednesday night that you can see the indent in the ground where the bodies are located with your naked eye. These children are waiting for their turn.2021 The New York Times Company
