Since the discovery of 751 unmarked graves at a former residential school site in June, members of Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan have been committed to the painful work of identifying each victim.
The Cowessess First Nation, an indigenous group in Saskatchewan, on Thursday announced a preliminary discovery of 751 unmarked graves near a former indigenous residential school, less than a month after a similar discovery rocked the country and the world.
Survivors of Canada s indigenous residential schools said the two findings were just the tip of the iceberg, renewing their feelings of grief and trauma.
An estimated 150,000 indigenous children across Canada were reportedly removed from their homes and forced to attend residential schools between the 1890s and as recently as 1996, during which more than 50,000 died of abuses.
Though touting itself a model for human rights, Canada was confronting its ugly history of encroaching upon the human rights of the indigenous people, as hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered at former indigenous residential schools.
2021-06-28 04:34:45 GMT2021-06-28 12:34:45(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
Children's shoes and toys are placed on the staircase outside Vancouver Art Gallery during a memorial event for the 215 children whose remains have been found buried at a former Kamloops residential school, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, May 30, 2021. (Photo by Andrew Soong/Xinhua)
OTTAWA, June 26 (Xinhua) Though touting itself a model for human rights, Canada was confronting its ugly history of encroaching upon the human rights of the indigenous people, as hundreds of unmarked graves were discovered at former indigenous residential schools.
Less than a month after the discovery of the remains of 215 indigenous children at a former residential school in western Canada, both Canada and the international community were again shocked by the new discovery of 751 more unmarked graves at a cemetery near another former indigenous residential school in the Canadian province of Saskatchewa
According to the University of Regina, the Marieval residential school operated from 1899 to 1997 in the Qu Appelle Valley. Marieval was run by the Roman Catholic Church until it handed over administration to the federal government in 1968. Cowessess First Nation took over its operations in 1981. The residential school was later demolished in 1999 and replaced with a day school. For survivors of Canada’s residential school system, the discovery in Cowessess, while not unexpected, renewed feelings of grief and trauma. Just feeling like the wind was knocked out of me again, Lou-Ann Neel, a residential school survivor, told CTV s Your Morning on Thursday.