The discovery last week of the remains of at least 165 indigenous children, students from the largest boarding school from Canada, has sparked outrage across the country, demanding more searches for nameless graves. Here’s what we know so far.
The ad featured a small sample of an ongoing investigation by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc tribe into the deaths of boarding school students.
These government-run schools were part of the policy to achieve assimilate indigenous children and destroy native cultures and languages.
What do we know about the first finds?
Last week, the chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc tribe, Rosanne Casimir, announced that they had been found the remains of 500 children near the city of Kamloops , in the southern province of British Columbia.
Some of the remains are believed to be of children as young as 3 years.
All had been students at Kamloops Indian Residential School , the largest institution of its kind in the boarding school system from Canada.
The discovery of the remains had been confirmed days before with the help of ground-penetrating radar technology, said Casimir.
Se made the discovery thanks to preliminary work to identify burial sites carried out in the early 1990s .
The full report of the remains found is due in mid-June and the preliminary findings may be subject to review. Indigenous leaders have said that the figure of 215 will increase.
“Unfortunately, we know that many more children are missing, ”Casimir said in a statement last week.
Thousands of children died in boarding schools and their bodies rarely returned home . Many were buried in nameless graves.
Until today there is no accurate data on the number of children who died, the circumstances of their deaths or where they are buried. Efforts such as those of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc nation are helping to reconstruct part of that history.
It is known that the Kamloops school, which functioned between 1890 Y 1969, had capacity for 215 students i Indigenous people, many of whom were sent to live there hundreds of kilometers from their families.
Between Y 1978, was used as a home for students attending local day schools.
From the remains found, it is believed that 50 children have already been identified , Stephanie noted Scott, executive director of the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. The deaths occurred since until 1971.
But of the others 165, no records available to have their identities.
The children “ended up in common graves,” Scott said. “Unmarked, as unknown.”
The findings sparked anger across Canada, where many held impromptu vigils and memorials across the country.
But for the indigenous leaders, the discovery was not unexpected.
“The outrage and surprise of the general public are welcome, without a doubt,” said the national head of the Assembly of the First Nations, Perry Bellegarde. “But the report is not surprising.”
“The survivors have been saying this for years and years , but no one believed them,” he said. .
What were the boarding schools like?
The Kamloops boarding school was one of more than 130 Similar. They were open throughout Canada between 1874 Y 1996.
As axis of the government policy of forced assimilation, some 130, 000 children of the Native nations, mainly of the Intuit and Métis ethnic groups, were separated from their families during that period and placed in state boarding schools.
When attendance became mandatory in the decade of 1920, parents faced the threat of imprisonment if they did not send them.
Policy left a trauma in generations entire of indigenous children , who saw forced to abandon their native languages, speak English or French and convert to Christianity.
Christian churches were essential in the founding and operation of schools. The c Atolic Church in particular was responsible for operating until the 70% of internees , according to the Indigenous Residential School Survivors Society.
“Our government’s policy was to get rid of the indigenous in the child,” said Bellegarde. “It was a breakdown of oneself, the breakdown of family, community and nation.”
The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR), published in 2015, described the policy directed by the government as a cultural genocide.
In its 4, 000 pages detail radical failures in the care and safety of these children, with the complicity of the Church and the government.
“Officials, the Church and schools were aware of these failures and their impact on the health of students,” he says.
Students often went n housed in poorly constructed, poorly heated and unsanitary buildings , according to the report. Many lacked access to trained medical personnel and were subject to severe and often abusive punishment.
The terrible health conditions, according to The report came largely from the government’s determination to cut costs.
“School administrations argued with the government about who was going to pay for student funerals,” Scott said.
“They would do everything at the minimum cost,” as the records of the conversations show.
What do we know about the search for the disappeared?
The CVR investigation found that thousands of indigenous children sent to boarding schools never returned home .
Physical and sexual abuse l led some to flee. Others died from illness or accidents in the midst of negligence.
Already in 1945, rate Mortality rate of children in boarding schools was almost five times higher than that of other Canadian students.
“The survivors spoke of children who suddenly disappeared. Some spoke of children going missing in massive cemeteries, “TRC President Murray Sinclair said in a statement Wednesday.
Other survivors spoke of babies fathered by priests. , taken from their mothers at birth and thrown into ovens, he pointed out.
On 2015, it was estimated that about 6, 000 children had died while in boarding schools. So far, more than 4 have been identified, minor.
“We know that there are many places similar to Kamloops that will come to light in the future,” Sinclair said this week. “We have to start preparing for that.”
What has been done?
In 2015 , the CVR issued 100 recommendations, including six on missing children and cemeteries. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to “fully implement” all of them.
- According to a tally by public broadcaster CBC, 10 have been completed, 64 are in progress and 20 have not started.
- The CVR, suspended in 2009, fought for the issue of clandestine cemeteries to be included in his mandate.
- On 2017, the government allocated about $ 28 millions of dollars over three years to develop and maintain a student death registry and establish a registry online boarding school cemeteries s.
- So far, the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation says it has received only a fraction of that money.
What was the response?
This week, Trudeau said he was “ dismayed “by the legacy of the Canadian internees and promised” concrete actions “, but did not give many details.
“Trudeau has been willing to move this forward, he has a lot of talk, but we really need to see action,” Scott said.
He along with Bellegarde and other indigenous leaders have lobbied the government for a thorough investigation of the 130 ancient interned to find graves without names.
These children have been “discarded,” Chief Bellegarde said. “That is not acceptable.”
The news of the discovery has also provoked a global response, prompting pronouncements by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.
The preliminary findings have also renewed the demands for an apology from the Catholic Church , one of the recommendations of the CVR report.
On 2015, Trudeau asked Pope Francis to apologize for the Church’s role in running Canada’s boarding schools, but the Vatican has declined to do so.
Other Churches issued formal apologies in the decades of 1980 Y 1990.
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC News Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate them so as not to miss our best content.