What was always known, children taken from families by Canadian government to residential schools never to return.
Kamloops: remains of 215 children found( Guardian 28 May 2021)
'The Kamloops Indian residential school was
established in 1890 under the leadership of the Roman Catholic church,
and closed in 1978.
It was part of a
cross-Canada network of residential schools created to forcibly
assimilate Indigenous children by removing them from their homes and
communities, and forbidding them from speaking their native languages or
performing cultural practices. Physical, emotional and sexual abuse
were rampant within these institutions, as was forced labour.
At least 150,000 children attended such schools in what a historic 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission described as a “cultural genocide” targeting Canada’s Indigenous people.'
2015: Seven hearings at Truth and Reconciliation Commission
'More than 3,000 children died and were often buried in unmarked graves
without any identification or notice to their parents. Death rates among
indigenous children at residential schools were higher than among
Canadian soldiers in the second world war, the report found. These were
schools that often had no playgrounds but always had graveyards,
according to commissioner Marie Wilson.'