On May 27, 2021, some horrific news shocked the public opinion in Canada again; the discovery of the remains of 215 children, some as young as three, at the former Kamloops school site was a tragedy that the Prime Minister of Canada called “the disgraceful chapter of their country’s history”. Exactly four weeks later, more horrific news broke; 751 unidentified graves were discovered in another province!
The story began when the Canadian government put the policy of removing Indians’ identity on its agenda to equate Indigenous peoples with white European immigrants and set up schools in collaboration with the Catholic Church. In these schools, people of color were supposed to convert to Christianity under the teachings of the church and forget their native culture and identity. Therefore, attending these schools was compulsory, and after being separated from the family, children were transferred to these schools with various deceptions and excuses and were deprived of practicing indigenous traditions and speaking local languages, and even their traditional names were changed. From then on, the families did not know the fate of their children. Kamloops School was one of 139 boarding schools operating for these purposes from about 1870 to 1990. It is estimated that about 150,000 children were forced to attend these schools.
The control of terrified children away from their families was not possible for the officials of those schools except through violence, intimidation, and punishment. The brutal behavior of school officials was such that in addition to irreparable psychological and physical trauma, it sometimes cost the lives of children. Therefore, in these schools, instead of a playground, there was a cemetery to bury the dead. Malnutrition, pervasive disease, poor sanitation, sexual harassment, and even premeditated murder are reasons why school survivors have cited the deaths of some children. About 6,000 deaths have been identified so far. Fact-finding teams estimate the death toll at between 10,000 and 25,000. The figure for the United States is 40,000.
Indigenous Canadian elite research has uncovered such graves all over the country. Searches are still ongoing to find more possible bodies or other mass graves. In 2008, then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized. The government also agreed to pay compensation to the victims’ survivors. The current Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has repeatedly apologized for the cultural genocide and made a formal appeal to Pope Francis, the Catholic leader of the world, to apologize for the church’s actions in boarding schools; but the pope has not expressed a formal and clear apology, despite expressing regret and sympathy and calling for reconciliation.
However, as a result of years of organized racial discrimination, the same measures have continued, albeit with less intensity. Indigenous Canadians – especially women – continue to be oppressed, discriminated against, and abused. Indigenous peoples still make up a large portion of the poor. On the other hand, the Canadian government has not cooperated with fact-finding agencies, and has even distorted and censored some documents related to these crimes. Thus, many elites and indigenous peoples consider these actions to be inadequate and merely a show in the face of public pressure. Because they believe that an apology and a call for reconciliation will be credible when there are signs of a change in the treatment of the natives. That is why the indigenous elites insist that all information about the indigenous massacre be published first. They further demand an independent and fair inquiry by non-governmental fact-finding teams.