751 unmarked graves found at a now defunct Catholic residential school site in Cowessess in southeastern Saskatchewan province.
This discovery is the most significant and substantial till date in Canada. A grim reminder of years of abuse and prejudice indigenous communities have suffered in Canada as they continue to fight for justice and better living conditions
The church that ran the school removed the headstones.
It comes soon after the remains of 215 children were found at another residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia. It focuses on Canada's past policies of forced assimilation.
The Marieval Indian Residential School operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1899 to 1997. It is unclear if the remains are linked to the school and unmarked graves belong to children. Technical teams will provide a verified number and identify the remains.
The school was founded in 1890s by Catholic missionaries. The federal government began funding the school in 1901 and took over administration in 1969 before turning it over to Cowessess First Nation in 1987. It closed in the 1990s and later demolished.
It was one of the 130 plus compulsory boarding schools funded by Canadian government and run by religious authorities during the 19th and 20th Centuries to assimilate indigenous youth.
6,000 children died in these schools due to filthy health and living conditions inside.
This is the truth about Canada's cultural genocide. Physical and sexual abuse at the hands of school authorities led others to run away.
Cowessess began to use ground penetrating radar to locate unmarked graves at the cemetery of the school. The announcement marked the first phase of the search efforts.
Cowessess First Nation hopes the church will work with them in investigating further.
This is a shameful reminder of Canada's systemic racism, discrimination and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced.
What are residential schools?
Between 1863 and 1998, 1,50,000 plus indigenous children were taken from their families and put in these schools throughout Canada.
They were not allowed to speak their language or practise their culture and were mistreated and abused.
Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission launched in 2008 to document the impacts of this system found that indigenous children never returned to their home communities. The commission's landmark report said the practice amounted to cultural genocide.
In 2008, the Canadian government formally apologised for the system.
The Roman Catholic church responsible for the operations of 70% residential schools is yet to issue a formal apology.
The Kamloops discovery reopened old wounds in Canada about the lack of information and accountability around the residential school system, which forcibly separated indigenous children from their families and subjected them to malnutrition, physical and sexual abuse.
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