CANADIAN REPORT CALLS FOR INQUIRY INTO UNMARKED GRAVES AND MISSING INDIGENOUS CHILDREN

Wed 30 October 2024:

Missing children and unmarked graves at Indian Residential Schools in Canada should be probed by a national commission, said a final report released Tuesday.

The report’s author, Kimberly Murray, said the commission should have a 20-year mandate and be led by Indigenous representatives.

Murray, flanked by Indigenous residential school survivors, unveiled the report – Upholding Sacred Obligations: Reparations for Missing and Disappeared Indigenous Children and Unmarked Burials in Canada – at a press conference in Gatineau, Quebec.

Murray said a crucial step is pursuing justice for the children who were buried in unmarked graves at some 130 residential schools across Canada beginning in the mid-1800s until the last one closed around 1990. In some cases, the families were never told what happened to their children, who were forced to attend the schools.

“The greatest and most important obligation we all have is to the Survivors, who must be honoured and acknowledged for their courage in raising awareness about the painful truths of unmarked burials at Indian Residential Schools and other associated institutions,” Murray, whose title is the government-appointed Special Interlocutor, said in a press release.

__________________________________________________________________________

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22

__________________________________________________________________________

The commission should also investigate the genocide and other crimes perpetrated by the federal and provincial governments against Indigenous peoples, she said.

The report, two years in the making, lays out 42 “obligations” that must be conducted by the commission to get to the truth and provide justice and reconciliation between Indigenous tribes – Canada’s inhabitants for thousands of years – and the white settlers who came a few hundred years ago.

From the 1800s through the late 20th century, Canada’s residential school system forced over 150,000 Indigenous children into government-funded, church-run institutions meant to assimilate them into European-Canadian culture.

Children were separated from their families, and often endured severe abuse—physical, psychological, and sexual. Speaking their native languages and practicing Indigenous customs were forbidden, stripping away their cultural identity.

Survivors recount traumatic experiences of neglect, beatings, malnutrition, and overcrowded conditions, leading to widespread illness and death. In 2015, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported that more than 4,000 children died in the schools, often buried in unmarked graves without notifying their families.

The findings sparked national outrage, with apologies from the Canadian government and the Catholic Church, alongside efforts toward healing and reconciliation.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

__________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

WhatsApp CHANNEL
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAtNxX8fewmiFmN7N22