Table of Contents
The News
The Mass Graves..!!
- Between May and July of 2021, the gravesites of hundreds of Indigenous people, believed to be mainly of children, were identified near the former sites of five Canadian Indian residential schools in the provinces of Manitoba, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
The Mass Graves
The Residential Schools
- The residential school system was a federal government initiative aimed at forcefully assimilating indigenous children into the European way of life.
- It started in the 19th century, there were at least 130 residential schools across the country. Between 1883 and 1996, an estimated 150,000 indigenous children were sent to these schools. They were forcefully taken away from their families. Many of them never reunited with their families.
- The schools were funded by the federal government’s Department of Indian Affairs and run by churches, mostly the Catholic Church.
What happened at these schools?
- In the residential schools, the children were not allowed to speak their language or practise their culture.
- Many of them were emotionally, physically and sexually abused.
- Many children died mainly due to tuberculosis, malnutrition and other illnesses caused by the inhuman conditions inside the schools.
What did Canadian Govt do?
- In 2008, Canadian PM Stephen Harper issued the first formal government-level apology to the indigenous community for the residential schools.
- He set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008 which estimated that some 4,100 children attending these schools either died or went missing. It also made 94 recommendations for reparation and reconciliation.
- Murray Sinclair, a former judge who headed the Commission, said that the actual number of deaths could be “well beyond 10,000”. Other Indigenous organisations have also claimed that the actual number is much more than the official estimates.
- The Commission report, published in 2015, concluded that the school system amounted to a “cultural genocide”.
What did Canadian Govt do?
- Current PM Justin Trudeau had promised during his election campaign that addressing the indigenous question would be central to his agenda.
- However, indigenous groups say the federal government has been slow in its response to the implementation of the TR Commission’s recommendations.
- Trudeau government has set aside 27 million Canadian dollars in search for graves.
What next?
- Find the Truth & Reconcile..!!
- “Several First Nations”, which is using ground-penetrating radar technology to mark human remains buried underground, have asked for government help in quickly uncovering graves.
What next?
What next?
- The Roman Catholic church which was responsible for the operations of these residential schools has not yet issued a formal apology..!!
- The TR Commission had asked the Catholic Church to issue an apology and take steps for reconciliation.
- Pope Francis said “the sad discovery further raises awareness of the pains and sufferings of the past”.
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