Mass children's grave found in Canada

[LadyEloise]

The BBC are reporting that a mass grave with the bodies of 215 children have been found at former residential school set up to integrate Indigenous People, in Kamloops, Canada.
Once again the Catholic church is involved.
Striking similarities with those Mother and Baby homes in Tuam, Galway and Bessborough, Cork in Ireland.
But in Ireland the bodies have not been exhumed.
In Tuam they are in a septic tank and in Bessborough, only this week, a developer was refused permission to develop a site for housing in or around where the bodies of the children are believed to be buried.
A small victory but the children's bodies have still not been exhumed.

Oh my god.

That is horrific

Shocking

Made me cry. Salutary reminder that every country, even those which frequently appear to be more attractive than one's own, has its shame.

Heartbreaking, sadly I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. I suspect many many other countries will be acknowledging this heartbreaking situation.

Fucking hell awful.

There are no words for how awful this is.

Surprisingly Sky haven't it on their Sky News app.
I got it on the BBC app on my phone.

That's just beyond awful.

Fills me with sadness. I have no words. The need for tolerance, acceptance and kindness is a story for all ages.

I am sure that I have heard conspiracy theories about children going missing around Kamloops. Absolutely awful to hear that graves have been discovered. Those poor little children and their poor families, Just tragic.

Yes, sadly this is the tip of the Iceberg. The stories about residential schools are horrific & sadly they are not all from a distant past but as recently as 1996. I live in an area where a high %of the population is indigenous. Some of my friends stories are heart breaking, families torn apart. They weren't trying to integrate them, they were trying to erase any trace of culture or heritage from these kids.

Those poor children and their families. What made some people so arrogant that they thought taking children away from their families was ok on any level?

@Zanzibar55

Those poor children and their families. What made some people so arrogant that they thought taking children away from their families was ok on any level?

Racism- cultural genocide

I'm actually glad this has made news in other countries. It will hopefully shine a light on the racism that is still rife in Canada.

Heartbreaking. I was also shocked that this was way back in history but even just in the last few decades

Yes racism, institutional, ingrained racism and cultural genocide indeed.

Shocking

A small amount of the treatment that went on in those "schools" is mentioned in Kent Nerburn's 'Neither Wolf Nor Dog" www.waterstones.com/book/neither-wolf-nor-dog/kent-nerburn/robert-plant/9781786890160

I was also shocked to find out how recently these awful places operated.

Just awful.

Interestingly, I have been watching Anne with an E on Netflix, and this is covered in season 3. The last episode I watched was about a young Indian girl that Anne had befriended being imprisoned in a Catholic boarding school to have her culture "educated" out of her.

It was a pretty hard hitting episode and although the series is fictional it represented what was happening at the time.

What is even more depressing that it continued into my lifetime.

Is it really still this bad now @Onesailwait?

More news
www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/world/canada/kamloops-mass-grave-residential-schools.html

It's not blatant but there is a strong undercurrent. My younger kids go to a school that is 80% indigenous/ first nation's. Most of the neighbors drive their kids 25mins + so they don't have to have their children mix. My business partner is indigenous & we have faced many obstacles with setting up our business both with banks & client perception. Drive down any BC coastal highway & you will see red dresses hung to symbolize the missing & murdered indigenous women who nobody cares to investigate. Look at the Robert Pictkon case he murdered 40+ women, they were indigenous women & sex workers it went on for years because these women are seemingly worthless. I have a reserve just beind my property this is seen as highly undesirable. I feel like I'm banging on now but this issue is so important to me & my community. It needs to be addressed.

@RampantIvy

Just awful.

Interestingly, I have been watching Anne with an E on Netflix, and this is covered in season 3. The last episode I watched was about a young Indian girl that Anne had befriended being imprisoned in a Catholic boarding school to have her culture "educated" out of her.

It was a pretty hard hitting episode and although the series is fictional it represented what was happening at the time.

What is even more depressing that it continued into my lifetime.

Is it really still this bad now @Onesailwait?

I never realised this happened in Canada until watching Anne with an E.

It belies the 'we're so friendly' image of Canada.
The missing indigenous women is going on today!

I don't know how much the fear of being called racist affects the investigations into these missing women.

I posted this a while ago but there’s a tv film on Amazon based on this

It’s called We were children. Worth a watch