CALGARY, Alberta — For decades, the Indigenous children were taken from their families, sometimes by force, and housed in crowded, church-run boarding schools, where they were abused and prohibited from speaking their languages. Thousands vanished altogether.
Now, a new discovery offers chilling evidence that many of the missing children may have died at these schools: The remains of as many as 751 people, mainly Indigenous children, were found at the site of a former school in the province of Saskatchewan, an Indigenous group said on Thursday.
The burial site, the largest one to date, was uncovered only weeks after the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves on the grounds of another former church-run school for Indigenous students in British Columbia.
The discoveries have jolted a nation grappling with generations of widespread and systematic abuse of Indigenous people, many of whom are survivors of the boarding schools. For decades, they suggested through their oral histories that thousands of children disappeared from the schools, but they were often met with skepticism. The revelations of two unmarked grave sites are another searing reminder of this traumatic period in history.
ladymarsh on June 24th, 2021 at 18:42 UTC »
“It is readily acknowledged that Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habitating so closely in these schools, and that they die at a much higher rate than in their villages. But this alone does not justify a change in the policy of this Department, which is being geared towards the final solution of our Indian Problem."
Duncan Campbell Scott, former Superintendent of Indian Education (1909-1913) and Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs (1913-1932)adggg on June 24th, 2021 at 16:25 UTC »
For those that didn't watch the press conference, the Chief was clear to note that the initial count of 751 is subject to a 10-15% error margin, and they can confirm that there are at least 600 graves. He was also clear in noting that these were not mass graves, rather unmarked as their headstones were removed by the diocese in the 1960's. The graves also likely hold both children and adults and are directly adjacent to an existing cemetery.
What is clear to me though, that while the circumstances surrounding their death might have some innocence, 600+ lives and testimonies were not only buried but swept under the rug post mortem to deliberately hide this fact for whatever reason.
Global_Leaders on June 24th, 2021 at 15:21 UTC »
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Edit: The NYT’s has since edited the number to 751 from 761, which was is what was originally reported.