Canada: Indigenous groups seek investigation after graves of 215 children discovered

World

In Canada last week 215 children’s body was found buried, some as young as three years old at a former school, Kamloops Indian Residential School which once was a Canada’s largest Indigenous residential school. One of the institutions that kept children who had been kidnapped from their homes around the country.

On Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau termed the discovery as “heartbreaking.” Trudeau expressed his condolences and solidarity with the country’s indigenous peoples by saying finding further sites “is an important part of discovering the truth.” on Monday.

Indigenous groups throughout Canada are now seeking more nationwide investigations to discover other burial sites at old residential school. ‘Indigenous peoples’ (or Aboriginals) usually refer to the Métis and Inuit First Nations populations, which make up little under 5% of the Canadian population, according to the 2016 census statistics.

In between the years 1831 and 1996, the residential school system in Canada which was typically managed by Christian churches on behalf of Ottawa, forcibly kept separate indigenous children from their parents subjecting them to horrific physical violence, sexual assault, malnutrition, and other horrific acts. Those children went to school but never came back.

Last week’s statement provoked to anger, prompting flags to be flown to half-staff and hundreds of little shoes to be placed in public places, government buildings, and church steps, in response to the role of Christian churches of various units in operating the schools.