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Remains of 215 Children Found at Former School
BY DANYA HAJJAJI ON 5/28/21 AT 10:49 AM EDT
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WORLD
CANADA
SCHOOLS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
The remains of 215 Indigenous children have been found buried at a former residential school in British Columbia, a First Nations community said on Thursday, reopening old wounds inflicted by Canada's colonial history.
Rosanne Casimir, chief of the Tk'emlups te Secwépemc, announced that the remains had been found in the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School over the weekend. The children, whose deaths are thought to be undocumented, include some as young as 3 years old.
Residential schools were funded by the Canadian government and run by churches from the 1870s, with the last school shut in 1996, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. There were more than 130 of the institutions across the country.
At least 150,000 children belonging to First Nation, Inuit and Metis groups attended the schools, which sought to suppress their cultural and religious identities and force them to assimilate into white Christian society.
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Students—often forcibly removed from their families—were subjected to severe discipline and starvation at the residential schools, as well as physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The children were strictly prohibited from speaking their languages and practicing their cultures.
Although the exact number of children who died at residential schools is unknown, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has identified more than 4,100 students who died of disease or in accidents.
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The remains at Kamloops Indian Residential School were discovered with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist, according to the Tk'emlups te Secwépemc statement.
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"We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify," Casimir said in the statement. "To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths."
"Some were as young as three years old. We sought out a way to confirm that knowing out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families, understanding that Tk'emlúps te Secwe?pemc is the final resting place of these children."
The statement added that the next steps would include engaging with the coroner and reaching out to communities whose children had attended the school, in addition to working with the Royal British Columbia Museum and others to uncover any existing records of the children's deaths.
Marc Miller, Canada's minister of indigenous services, said he offered his department's "full support" to Tk'emlúps te Secwe?pemc and surrounding communities in light of the "heartbreaking news."
Perry Bellegarde, national chief of Canada's Assembly of First Nations, called the discovery "painful."
"While it is not new to find graves at former Residential Schools in [Canada], it's always crushing to have that chapter's wounds exposed," he wrote on Twitter.
You can access the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line, set up to provide support for former Residential School students and those affected. You can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling 24-Hour National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419
— Perry Bellegarde (@perrybellegarde) May 28, 2021
According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Kamloops school was opened in 1890 under Roman Catholic administration. It was the largest school in the residential school system, with peak enrolment at 500 students in the early 1950s.
Educational program Project of Heart described the conditions at Kamloops as "atrocious," but "typical" of residential schools.
The institution's "rampant" neglect and abuse led some children to take their own lives, the program added. Many tried to run away, but were caught and punished. Students also suffered from "epidemic levels" of contagious diseases such as tuberculosis because of poor sanitary conditions, overcrowding, malnourishment, inadequate clothing, and a lack of funding and medical care.
The school closed in 1978.
A formal apology for the residential school system was issued in 2008 by Stephen Harper then prime minister. Justin Trudeau, the current prime minister, also apologized in 2017, calling the schools a "dark and shameful chapter" in Canada's history.
Canadian residential school is seen in BC
The abandoned grounds of the former Lejac Residential School in British Columbia, seen on June 23, 2019. Indigenous children were subjected to various forms of abuse and neglect in Canada's residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996.
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https://3w.huanqiu.com/a/c36dc8/43JHouRXuG7?agt=20
环球网
震惊！加拿大一印第安寄宿学校旧址挖出215具儿童遗骸，最小死者年龄仅3岁
环球网 05-28 21:45
【环球网报道 见习记者 杨英琦】据加拿大广播公司（CBC）消息，加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省“第一民族”（即原住民） 27日表示，初步调查发现，该省坎卢普斯印第安寄宿学校旧址埋有215名儿童的遗骸，其中最小的死者年龄仅3岁。
加拿大广播公司（CBC）：加拿大“第一民族”称，215名儿童的遗体被发现埋于不列颠哥伦比亚省前寄宿学校
加拿大广播公司（CBC）：加拿大“第一民族”称，215名儿童的遗体被发现埋于不列颠哥伦比亚省前寄宿学校
报道说，这些遗骸于上周末被发现于坎卢普斯市附近。
“据我们所知，没有正式文件（记录）这些失踪儿童的死亡。”“第一民族”Tk'emlups te Secwépemc部落首领罗珊•卡西米尔（Rosanne Casimir）在一份声明中说道：“有些人（死亡时）甚至只有3岁大。出于对那些失去亲人的孩子及其家人的尊重与爱，我们已想办法确认（孩子们的身份）。”
如今的坎卢普斯印第安寄宿学校 （图源：加拿大媒体）
如今的坎卢普斯印第安寄宿学校 （图源：加拿大媒体）
卡西米尔告诉CBC，目前的发现是“初步的”，专家将于下月出示一份相关报告。Tk'emlup te Secwépemc方面还称，他们正在采取“必要步骤”，包括与不列颠哥伦比亚省验尸处合作，联系孩子们的家乡社区，保护遗骸，并与博物馆合作来寻找这些死者的有关信息记录。
根据CBC介绍，这所印第安寄宿学校自1890年运营至1969年，联邦政府之后从天主教会手中接管了这所学校，将其当作走读学校运营，直到1978年关闭学校。
坎卢普斯印第安寄宿学校，摄于1930年。（图源：加拿大媒体）
坎卢普斯印第安寄宿学校，摄于1930年。（图源：加拿大媒体）
报道还称，到目前为止，加拿大真相与和解委员会已经确认了4100多名在寄宿学校上学时死亡的儿童姓名或信息。这些孩子的确切死亡人数暂不清楚，但该委员会说，有大量被送进寄宿学校的原住民儿童再也没能回家。
