169 potential graves found at Canada indigenous school site

Ottawa, Mar 1 (Prensa Latina) Authorities of the province of Alberta, in Canada, on Tuesday found 169 potential graves of indigenous children at the site of a former residential school.

March 1, 2022
19:05

According to reports, investigators found the bodies close to the St. Bernard Mission School by using ground-penetrating radar.

Kapawe’no First Nation, an indigenous community located about 370 kilometers northwest of Edmonton, said a specialized drone was also used to find evidence of graves at the former Grouard Mission Site.

The University of Alberta´s Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archeology led the search, which has so far found about 1,300 clandestine graves.

St. Bernard Mission School was opened by the Roman Catholic Church in 1894 and operated through 1961.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission assured that serious abuses were committed in that institution through testimonies of survivors.

These institutions were created in the 19th and 20th centuries to forcefully convert indigenous children to Catholic.

Up to now, the graves have been found on sites belonging exclusively to former government-funded residential schools and paint a picture of the country’s horrific colonial past.

mh/pll/msm/age