Hundreds Of Unmarked Graves Found At Site Of Former School In Canada

Hundreds of unmarked graves have been found at the site of a former residential school in Canada.

The Cowessess First Nation - an indigenous group in southern Saskatchewan - said on Wednesday (23 June) that the 'horrific and shocking' discovery was 'the most significantly substantial to date in Canada'.

It comes after the remains of 215 children, some as young as three, were discovered in British Columbia last month.

PA

The Kamloops Indian Residential School, which closed in 1978, was run by the Catholic Church and was one of several such institutions in North America to which indigenous children were sent in a forced attempt to assimilate them into Western society.

Between 1863 and 1998, as many as 150,000 children were taken from their families and sent to such schools - where they were banned from speaking their native language and forced to convert to Christianity.

Abuse was rife, and as many as 6,000 children are believed to have died.

Further details about the latest grim discovery near what was once the Marieval Indian Residential School are expected to be revealed in a press conference today; however, a source told the National Post the number of graves is more than three times higher than the 215 found in May.

SOCIETE HISTORIQUE DE SAINT-BONIFACE

Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, described the finding of the graves as 'tragic but not surprising'.

He wrote on Twitter: "The news that hundreds of unmarked graves have been found in Cowessess First Nation is absolutely tragic, but not surprising.

"I urge all Canadians to stand with First Nations in this extremely difficult and emotional time."

The First Nation teamed up with an underground radar detection team from Saskatchewan Polytechnic to begin searching the site three weeks ago.

Cowessess First Nation Chief, Cadmus Delorme, told the Regina Leader-Post at the time that he didn't know how many people's remains would be found, but the goal was to identify them and build a monument to honour them.

He said: "The pain is real, the pain is there and the pain hasn't gone away. As we heal, every Cowessess citizen has a family member in that gravesite.

"To know there's some unmarked, it continues the pain."

A 2008 commission launched to document the impacts of the system found that many indigenous children never returned to their families, and in 2017, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau formerly apologised on behalf of the nation.

Topics: World News, crime, Canada

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey