The Remains Of 215 Indigenous Children Have Been Found At A Former School In Canada
The remains of 215 children, including some children under three years old, have been found in a mass grave on the grounds of a former residential school, a nationwide effort to ever separate indigenous children from their families in Canada. Was part of. them.
Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced the discovery in a news release on Thursday, saying that the remains were found after working with a "ground penetrating radar specialist" to confirm a mass grave at Kamloops Indian Residential School.
Chief Rosanne Casimir called it an "unimaginable loss" and said that while the deaths had been talked about for a long time, the residential school never documented them.
"We had information in our community that we were able to verify. To our knowledge, these missing children are unspecified deaths," Kasimir said. "We found a way to confirm that knowing deep respect & love for those lost children & their families, realizing that Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc is the final resting place of these children."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the discovery was heart-wrenching, calling it "a painful reminder of that dark & shameful chapter of our nation's history".
The residential school system in Canada served as compulsory boarding schools for Indigenous youth & was run by churches and the federal government for more than 150 years during the 19th & 20th centuries.
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
The situation in schools was bad. Children were often not allowed to speak their language & were punished for doing so. Many faced physical & sexual abuse, with employees not being held accountable.
In 2015, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation Report estimated that more than 150,000 children attended these schools & more than 6,000 died who never returned home.
According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report what happened in schools was "cultural genocide".
The report stated that the residential schools were "a systematic, government-sponsored effort to destroy tribal cultures & languages & assimilate tribal people so that they no longer exist as separate people."
In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologized to the 1st Nation & indigenous communities for its treatment of schools & children.
The school system began to close in the 1970s, & Kamloops Indian Residential School closed in 1978. But its impact is still being felt in the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc community today, Kasimir said.
Thursday's announcement is only the 1st of the preliminary findings. According to a statement from tk'emlúps te Secwépemc 1st Nation, the radar survey of the rest of the school grounds is set to continue & "hopefully there will be some peace & closure for the lost people & their home communities."
When & how the children died has still not been determined, but the rest of the preliminary findings of the ground survey are expected to be released in mid-June.