Where are the missing Indigenous children of the now-closed old 130 compulsory boarding schools in Canada?
June 24, 2021
SASKATCHEWAN (AGN.News) – First, the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves in British Columbia, Canada at the site of a now-closed residential school set up by churches and the Canadian government in the 1800s.
Secondly, another 751 remains have been found in southeastern Saskatchewan at the site of The Marieval Indian Residential School in unmarked graves.
To be clear, some of these graves may have had markers or grave stones that were later removed by authorized personnel. If so, who moved them and where were they moved? The obvious question is, where are the records?
Between 1863 and 1998 more than 150,000 children were taken away from indigenous families and placed in these schools run by religious organizations and the Canadian government. Many of these children never returned home or ever heard from again.
Where are the missing Indigenous children?
The uncovered evidence reveals an effort by administrators of these facilities to cover up the bitter truth by burying these children in unmarked graves. Many of these children meet with an untimely death and were buried at the hands of unknown perpetrators throughout the existence of these schools.
What did the Cowessess First Nation find?
The Cowessess First Nation decided to look for the remains of their missing children. Using ground penetrating radar at the site of The Marieval Indian Residential School which operated in the Cowessess area from 1899 to 1997, remains were found.
The Cowessess First Nation search revealed the hidden secrets of The Marieval Indian Residential School. The unearthed remains of 751 unmarked graves of Cowessess missing Indigenous children paints a clear picture of what happened at the school.
What was the purpose of these school?
The Saskatchewan, Canada based school was one of 130 compulsory schools across Canada to assimilate indigenous children into Canadian society. Canada, in the late 1800s wanted the future generations of Indigenous people to become “Canadian” by working to erase their inherited culture. Many died during this ‘cultural genocide’.
These children were not allowed to speak their language or practice their culture. As a result, many ran away. These children were beaten, sexually assaulted, physical and sexually abused or killed in the process. These inhuman acts by school authorities were intended to rob these children of their heritage through “cultural genocide”.
Churches and official complicity
These children were forcibly enrolled in the institutions, which were run by Christian churches on behalf of the government which pursued a policy of assimilation.
The legacy of the system has been cited by indigenous people as the root cause of epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction among their people.
We are not asking for pity, but we are asking for understanding,” said Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme.
“They made us believe we didn’t have souls,” said former residential school student Florence Sparvier at a press conference today. “They were putting us down as people, so we learned to not like who we were.”
The Cowessess called the discovery “horrific and shocking”. They said, finding the graves was, “tragic but not surprising”.
Churches and Government responsibility
In 1998, Canada’s largest Protestant church, the United Church of Canada apologized to the country’s native people for the physical and sexual abuse that many native children suffered in its boarding schools.
The apology came a week after evidence emerged suggesting Church and government officials knew about the abuse as early as 1960, but did nothing to stop it. Therefore, hundreds of victims are suing Canadian churches for compensation.
Earlier in 1998, the Canadian government issued a similar apology and made funds available to tackle the social and psychological problems caused by the schools.
In 2008, the Canadian government set up a truth and reconciliation commission with the power to access government and church records. The commission was authorized to document the impacts the system had on indigenous children.
The commission found that many never made it back home among other things. The Canadian government formally apologized again for the 135 year abuse-laden system in 2008.
In the spring of 2009, Pope Benedict XVI held a private meeting at the Vatican with an indigenous leader and Canadian bishops.
Afterwards, he expressed his sorrow that generations of indigenous children, who were abused at some Catholic boarding schools, in Canada were the victims of these atrocities by Church leaders and the authorities.
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