For decades, many Native Americans in Canada took them from their families and sent them to boarding schools. A large number of them never returned home, while their families were given only vague or zero explanations.
Now, according to a CNN report, an indigenous community in British Columbia, Canada, claims to have found evidence of what happened to some of its missing children: a mass grave containing the bones of 215 children buried in a former school.
In particular, ground-breaking radar is said to have discovered the bones near the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, which operated from 1890 to the late 1970s. These are bones from many decades, including bones from children three years.
Beginning in the 19th century, Canada hosted a system of school residences, which were run mainly by churches, and to which indigenous children were forced to go. This declined in the 1970s, with the last school closing in 1996.
A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up as part of a government apology and school settlement concluded that at least 4,100 students died while attending school, many from abuse or neglect, others from illness or accident. He found that in many cases, families never learned the fate of their children, who are now known as missing children.
“It was a painful moment when I learned that our speculation was coming true,” said Harvey McLeod, who attended school for two years in the late 1960s, in a telephone interview with CNN. “The story is so unreal, but yesterday it became a reality for many of us who belonged to this community,” he added.
The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community in the south of British Columbia, where the school was located, issued a statement late Thursday saying it was “an unthinkable loss of which much was heard – for which there was no evidence”. “But in the end they were confirmed.” “Last weekend, with the help of a special radar, we were led to clarify the case. “215 bodies of Kamloops Indian Residential School students have been found,” said Rosanne Casimir, head of the community. “Besides, there were no child death certificates,” she said in a statement.
McLeod claimed that he, like his former classmates, had often wondered what had happened to his friends and classmates who had disappeared. “Many did not return. We were happy for them. “We thought they had left, but we did not know what really happened,” he said.
The Indian school “Kamloops Residential” was one of the largest in Canada and operated from the late 19th century until the late 1970s. It was run by the Catholic Church until the federal government took over the reins at the end of the 1960s. Closed about a decade later. It now houses a museum and a community facility with cultural events.
Community leaders say the investigation will continue in collaboration with the Bureau of Judicial Investigation. The head of the office, Lisa Lapoid, said the investigation was at the point of gathering information.
Source: CNN, CBC
