UN RIGHTS OFFICIALS SEEKS IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION INTO THE DISCOVERY OF A MASS GRAVE IN CANADA

Fri 04 June 2021:

Canada and the authorities of the Catholic Church must launch an immediate investigation into the discovery of a mass grave of more than 200 children found at a school for indigenous, or First Nation, children in British Columbia, nine senior UN diplomats dealing with abuse of children and disappearances said on Friday.

“We urge the authorities to conduct full-fledged investigations into the circumstances and responsibilities surrounding these deaths, including forensic examinations of the remains found, and to proceed to the identification and registration of the missing children,” the officials said accord to a release from the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR).

The officials included Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Francisco Cali Tzay, Special Rapporteur on the sale and exploitation of children Mama Fatima Singhateh, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial and arbitrary executions Morris Tidball-Binz and Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer.

The UN officials, who also included the OHCHR Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, also called on the Canadian government “to undertake similar investigations in all other Indigenous residential schools in the country”, recalling the right of victims to know the full extent of the truth about the violations endured.

On Wednesday, Canadian Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett announced that the government has earmarked a $22.4 million fund to study former residential schools for potential sites such as those found in British Columbia.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School, where the children’s remains were found, was run by the Catholic Church from the late 19th century to the late 1960s, when the Federal government took over until its closure in the 1970s. The 2015 report of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission determined that Aboriginal children were subjected to abuse, malnutrition and rape and that at least 4,000 died while at such schools.

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