Canadian Indian residential school gravesites

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The Canadian Indian residential school system[nb 1] was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous children directed and funded by the Department of Indian Affairs.[2] Administered by various Christian churches and funded by the Canadian government from 1828 to 1997 Canadian Indian residential school system attempted to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.[3] Over 4,000 students died while attending Canadian residential school.[4] Students' bodies were often buried in school cemeteries rather than sent back home, since the school was expected to keep costs as low as possible.[5] Many cemeteries were unregistered, and as such the locations of many burial sites of residential school children have been lost.[6]

Comparatively few cemeteries associated with residential schools are explicitly referenced in surviving documents, but the age and duration of the schools suggests that most had a cemetery associated with them.[7] The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called for "the ongoing identification, documentation, maintenance, commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries or other sites at which residential school children were buried."[8]

Some individuals engage in denialism about the existence of some or all residential school burial sites.[9][10] Indigenous groups and academics dismiss such denials.[9][11] An opinion piece by Kisha Supernant and Sean Carleton, published by the CBC, responded to the denials, stating that "[t]here is no big lie or deliberate hoax", but is instead "the complicated nature of what the TRC calls the 'complex truth' ".[10] Federal Justice Minister David Lametti said in 2023 that he was open to outlawing residential school denialism.[9] His successor, Arif Virani, has not taken a position on the issue.[12]

The Government of Canada formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008.[13] This included recognition of past colonial genocide and settlement agreements.[14] In October 2022, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously passed a motion calling on the federal Canadian government to recognize the residential school system as genocide.[15][16] This acknowledgment was followed by a visit by Pope Francis who apologized for the Church's role in "oppression, mistreatment and cultural genocide of indigenous people".[17][18]

  1. ^ a b "Terminology Guide: Research on Aboriginal Heritage" (PDF). Library and Archives Canada. 2012. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  2. ^ "A timeline of residential schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission". CBC. May 16, 2008. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  3. ^ Arsenault, Virginia (2015). Resistance to the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Technical report). p. 5–7. JSTOR resrep11074.5. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  4. ^ "Never forget Indigenous children who died at residential schools". The Hill Times. October 7, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  5. ^ Cooper, Anderson (February 12, 2023). "Canada's unmarked graves: How residential schools carried out "cultural genocide" against indigenous children". CBS News. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  6. ^ "Canada's Residential Schools Missing Children and Unmarked Burials" (PDF). Publications du gouvernement du Canada The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. p. 8. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  7. ^ Hamilton, Scott. "Where are the Children buried?" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
  8. ^ Canada's Residential Schools: Missing Children and Unmarked Burials – The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (PDF). Vol. 4. Montreal: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. 2015. ISBN 978-0-7735-9825-6. Retrieved June 25, 2021 – via McGill-Queen's University Press.
  9. ^ a b c Moira Wyton. "Residential school denialists tried to dig up suspected unmarked graves in Kamloops, B.C., report finds." CBC News. 16 June 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  10. ^ a b Kisha Supernant and Sean Carleton. "Fighting 'denialists' for the truth about unmarked graves and residential schooling." CBC Opinion. 3 June 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  11. ^ Sean Carleton and Reid Gerbrandt. "We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their 'mass grave hoax' theory." The Free Press. Originally published by The Conversation. 18 October 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  12. ^ Stephanie Taylor. "Special interlocutor 'waiting' for MP bill criminalizing residential school denialism." CTV News. 26 November 2023. Retrieved 5 June 2024.
  13. ^ "Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action" (PDF). National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. 2015. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2015.
  14. ^ Short, D.; Lennox, C. (2016). Handbook of Indigenous Peoples' Rights. Routledge International Handbooks (in Dutch). Taylor & Francis. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-136-31386-8. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  15. ^ "Motion to call residential schools genocide backed unanimously". The Globe and Mail. October 28, 2022. Archived from the original on October 29, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  16. ^ Raycraft, Richard (October 27, 2022). "MPs back motion calling on government to recognize residential schools program as genocide". CBC. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  17. ^ Maqbool, Aleem (July 30, 2022). "Pope Francis: Did the pontiff's apology in Canada go far enough?". BBC Home. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
  18. ^ Horowitz, Jason (July 30, 2022). "Francis Calls Abuse of Indigenous People in Canada a 'Genocide'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved October 7, 2023.


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