751 Unmarked Graves Found at Canada’s Indigenous School

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau marked that the finding of unmarked graves in Canada’s indigenous schools to be a “shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination and injustice that indigenous people had to face and continue to face- in this country”

The indigenous people of Canada, often referred to as the “aboriginals'', are people that face continued discrimination in Canada. There are numerous examples of violin racism that these “aboriginals” have faced in Canada where indigenous men are two to ten times more likely than non-indigenous men to face violence by authorities and besides them, indigenous women are at a higher risk for facing harassment by authorities. The existence of Indian Reserves proves and shows us that there was race-based segregation of First Nations people in Canada. This form of segregation has been supported by successive Canadian governments for many generations. An excruciating issue that Canada faces today is the racism that was experienced in residential schools which was the attempted assimilation of indigenous children in those schools. The government had established residential schools whose main purpose would be “to kill the Indian in the child”. Students were not allowed to speak in their first language or use the name that it was given to them by their families and many of these students went through physical, emotional and sexual abuse; and even succumbed to fatal diseases like tuberculosis and many others which leads us to our recent findings of unmarked graves which belonged to the students, the indigenous students that attended these residential that based their entire system of learning on racism and social discrimination. Leaders of the First Nations Group of Canada had recently announced that 751 unmarked graves were found near the site of a former residential school in Saskatchewan. These 751 graves were found after authorities had found 215 unmarked graves in the toppling of a statue of Egerton Ryerson who happened to be one of the founding fathers of Canada’s residential schooling system. Ken Thomas, one of the victims of these schools has noted his experiences in these schools. Some nuns shaved off his braids, the moment he entered the school and they would also wash his mouth with soap whenever he spoke his indigenous language. He has even witnessed his friend committing suicide after being stripped naked and locked into a dorm after trying to escape. The friend was found hanging lifeless in the shower. This could even be called a mass genocide where children were targeted. The findings of these graves unlock so much about Canada’s dark past, which is scary to indulge into. Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron admitted to the dark truth by stating “We had concentration camps here. Canada will be known as the nation that tried to exterminate the First Nations”