Kamloops- A Nightmare; no longer "the disappeared".

In May 2021, a macabre part of Canada’s hidden history made headlines after ground-penetrating radar located the remains of 215 First Nations children in a mass unmarked grave on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School which operated from 1890 until the late 1970s.

Approximately 1,50,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and nations and placed in residential schools forcefully. A large number of these children never returned home, their families given only vague explanations, or none at all. The 215 children, some as young as three years of age, located in Tk’emlúps were part of a larger colonial program to liquidate Indigenous nations of their histories and culture and foreclose on any future.

The lives of the indigenous children at these schools were in the hands of the Catholic Church to whom the federal government had given a no restrictions card for 'killing the Indian in the child'. The federal government used the Church's extensive network and they did not mind it as they got a bound populace of ethnic groups to propagate religion too. While there is no evidence to determine the cause of death for each child, it is sure that they died political death-these children were “the disappeared”. The sheer ordeal of having no emotional support or someone who cares for you at young tender ages is something that everyone can visualize.

The hunger for love, support, and food left many of the children resorting to alcohol and drugs to forget their problems and grief. Running away from the epicenter of all their immediate difficulties seemed like a definite solution. Until they were caught and the mental pain was overrun by the physical torture. Using leather straps and walking sticks on innocent children trying to escape the source of their agony sure isn't 'God's work'.

A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, concluded that the residential schools were a program of “cultural genocide" and at least 4,100 students died while attending the school, many from mistreatment or neglect, others from disease or accident. Chief Casimir said the search for remains at Kamloops began in the early 2000s, in part because official explanations- including suggestions that the missing children had simply run away- did not match with the stories conveyed by the former students. She also said that the radar scanning is not yet complete and there is still more to be discovered.

The Prime Minister has ordered flags on federal buildings to be lowered in memory of the 215 children. There are commemoration sites where people are placing childrens' shoes around the country. Indigenous leaders plan to bring in forensics experts to identify and repatriate the remains of the children found buried on the Kamloops site. The truth remains- the ones who are dead won’t come back but the Residential school survivors, when they tried to get back into the community, were universally not fully taken back, and a lot of them were rejected by their own family and they were outcasts in their community. They just want to be heard without being responded to and that’s the least we can do for them. The book 'Behind Closed Doors' narrated 32 stories of the indigenous 'Survivors'. We can just presume what else did the 215 narratives hold, but the reality is they'll never be told and whatever they held wasn't good. The dark legacy of Kamloops shall never be forgotten.

- Nishita and Sahanj

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