Native Residential Schools | 182 Discovery of anonymous graves: “a mass murder”

Nicola Proup
Press

The Agam community of Kdunoxa First Nation in British Columbia announced Wednesday that 182 bodies have been found buried in unmarked graves on land near the former St. Eugene Indian Children’s Residential School near Cranbrook.

“These people are my family, they belong to my community,” Jason Louie, head of the Lower Cottenay’s neighborhood community, told CBC Vancouver on Wednesday. They went to that school, and some of them died there because they were first nations. ”

President Louis Pope calls on Francis not only to apologize on behalf of the Catholic Church, but also to recognize financial relief for the wrongs experienced.

“Let’s call it by name: this is the massacre of the first nations,” said Chief Louis.

In its report, Agam said the community continues to work to identify the remains. But anonymous graves may be the graves of patients at St. Eugene Hospital, where children are not forced to attend St. Eugene Residential School. Small wooden crosses used to mark graves can deteriorate over the years.

“Although these findings are tragic, analyzes are still ongoing and the history of the region is very complex,” it wrote.

“Sad, but not surprising”

Weldon Coburn, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Canadian and Indigenous Studies, notes that more than 150,000 tribal children are left one after the other near residential schools torn apart by their families. The whole scale is hard to understand.

Johnny Wilde, co-ordinator of the group of alumni at Saint-Mark-de-Figueroa’s own residential school in Abbott, said Wednesday’s announcement was “sad, but not surprising.”

“We know there are many excavations going on and we suspect the dead children were buried without the knowledge of their families,” he said in a phone interview.

This sad news will continue to accumulate this summer as excavations progress, he said. “It still hasn’t happened. It affects us every time there are discoveries, because behind it all are real human beings, real families destroyed.” .

Shallow graves

182 remains “buried in graves only three or four feet deep,” Lower Cottenay First Country said on its website. The discovery was made possible by excavations carried out last year by radars capable of penetrating the ground.

The Center for the History of Residential Schools, affiliated with the University of British Columbia, reports that the first residential school near Vancouver, Cranbrook, opened in 1890 and remained in operation until the early years. 1970. Mary Immaculate is in charge of the Board of Trustees of the Oplet Missionaries.

According to the center, “Infectious diseases such as influenza, mango, measles, chicken pox and tuberculosis are common in residential schools.” In early 1907, D.C.^r Peter Price, chief medical officer of the Canadian government, has exposed “unacceptable” conditions in residential schools across the country, where the death rate could reach 25%, but the government has ignored his recommendations.

Tricia Logan, deputy director of the Center for History of Residential Schools in India, believes that the accumulation of stories and shocks should translate into the acceptance of responsibility by the Catholic Church, Protestant churches, federal and provincial governments. , Especially.

“I think we need to take note of what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has revealed, and add what we now know about residential school victims, the evidence we have found,” he said.

The 139 boarding schools, which were established federally, some of which operated until the late 1990s, are attracting attention these days, but the actual number is much higher, said Mr Anichinabe of the Alconin Nation in Piquagan, Ontario. Coburn mentions.

“This figure does not take into account residential schools established by the provinces or private residential schools. Communities also want to explore the heritage of these institutions,” he said.

“We need to work together”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his condolences on Wednesday in response to news that human remains had been found in anonymous cemeteries.

After the recent burning of Catholic churches in the country, Mr. Trudeau gave a hint that he should be quiet (see box).

“It simply came to our notice then. The destruction of places of worship is unacceptable and must be stopped. We must work together to correct the mistakes of the past, and we will continue to do so, ”he argued.

Earlier on Wednesday, Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter that the Canadian flag flying over the Peace Tower in Parliament will be halfway during Canada Day, 1^{There is} July, to honor the memory of victims in residential schools.

“Not a year to celebrate”

This series of heartbreaking discoveries sparked a movement to boycott Canada Day celebrations.

In response to these horrific revelations to Indigenous communities and all Canadians, Canada Day celebrations were canceled, in whole or in part, in St. John and Fredericton, New Brunswick and Victoria, British Columbia and St. Albert, Alberta. Others.

Despite calls for the cancellation of the festival in solidarity with Indigenous peoples, the Canadian Heritage Department has decided to move forward with its virtual events featuring songs in English, French and Native languages.

Johnny Wilde, a group of alumni at Saint-Mark-de-Fiquary Boarding School, has no plans to celebrate Canada’s National Day this year.

Starting in the afternoon at Jean-Mans Park in Montreal on Thursday, a gathering of several speakers from the first countries will take place to “pay tribute to tribal children, condemn genocide and demand justice.”

In collaboration with Melanie Marquis, Press, In Ottawa

Six churches were burned

Six Catholic churches in Canada are set on fire each week, one on Wednesday, one in Morenville, north of Alberta, and the other in the territory of Sybeknecat Migmak, about 65 miles north of Halifax. The cause of the first fire is unknown, while the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they have opened an investigation into the second appearance. Four small Catholic churches on tribal land in rural southern British Columbia were recently destroyed by a fire with a suspicious appearance.

With Canadian Publishing