leaders and community members say it is only the beginning of an important – but painful – national reckoning.
Chief Bellegarde said the discovery has opened painful wounds for many residential school survivors, who have long told of unmarked graves and uncounted deaths, but “the sad part is nobody believed them.”The gravesites were identified using ground-penetrating radar technology, as has been employed in other similar searches, including at the Muscowequan Indian Residential School near Lestock, Sask.
The Prime Minister has ordered flags on federal buildings to be lowered in memory of the 215 children, and several premiers and mayors across the country have done the same on other government buildings. “The death of our children is a crime against humanity. But Canada has never treated it as such,” Mr. Mamakwa said. “This country must own up to its past, as must all its governments and institutions for its role in the horror it created in residential schools.”
In Ontario, the NDP called on the Ontario government to investigate all lands and properties associated with residential schools, as well as institute an annual day of mourning and remembrance. While work has been quietly underway to identify burial sites in places like Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, Dr. Hamilton said he’d been waiting for a larger story to emerge and push the issue back into the forefront, as happened last week.
The commission used satellite imagery and maps on a sample of school locations in an effort to locate unmarked gravesites, and found possible cemeteries “in a surprisingly large number” of locations.“For the most part, the cemeteries that the Commission documented are abandoned, disused, and vulnerable to accidental disturbance,” the report said.
“The level of trauma, the level of illness, the level of death, the level of morbidity, the level of chronic illness in these schools was far worse than what the regular mainstream Canadian society experienced,” Dr. Hamilton says, adding that the impacts of colonialism led to higher rates of morbidity for those living on reserve as well.
jana_pruden Why is not clear whether any criminal investigations could result from the identification of the gravesites War crimes are investigated, why not this ?
true, but don't forget the provinces in which these schools were set up... and the organizations involved in the ENTIRE PROCESS, including supply chains, and yes, the Catholic Church! oh yeah, and all the people!! Puglaas
I've been thinking along those same lines. This could be the catalyst that enables the indigenous to reacquire ownership of the country and there couldn't be a better person in charge to accomodate that goal
The Residential School issues, the injustices and all the wrongs around the Indian Act are part of our CanadianShame. Promises by many Governments for changes have partially been fulfilled (eg clean water) however the lack of meaningful progress is unacceptable. Action is needed
Expel the Roman Catholic church from North America
I hope so. It’s a long path to achieving reconciliation. As least the truth is peaking it’s hasty head!
We only have guts to talk about the discrimination against black and Asians, but not the genocide against the natives, since it shakes the foundation of this nation.
This happened...artist is Kent Monkman (indigenous)
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