Graves of First Nations children at residential schools found

Like W Smith said, your posts basically are just trolling, so I am not wasting more time on your denouncing the spending of $214 million on looking for First Nations graves, when you have are not willing to denounce the hundreds of billions in subsidies outlined in post #296 given to the richest industry on Earth, the fossil fuel industry, that is in the process of destroying the global climate.

Canadians can think of the $214 million spent on residential schools as karma for the treatment settlers have foisted on the First Nations.
By the way on July 6th, Canada broke the records for the area of the country burned by wildfires, the number of people forced to evacuate because of wildfires and the amount of money spent on fighting wildfires even though we are just at the start of summer. Since you are so interested in the $214 million spent on First Nation graves, no doubt you are extremely upset about the fact that "the cost of fighting wildfires has steadily grown and is approaching about CDN$1 billion a year" (https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/wildfires-canada-broken-r...) and having done very little under Conservative or Liberal federal governments to stop the subsidies. We also lead the G20 in fossil fuel subsidies. Canadians can think of the record wildfires, evacuations and firefighting costs as just another form of karma.

The English River First Nation (ERFN) in Saskatchewan has identified 93 unmarked graves at the site of the former Beauval Indian Residential School.

The English River First Nation (ERFN) has announced the discovery of 93 unmarked graves at the site of the former Beauval Indian Residential School.

The First Nation said it believes the graves hold the remains of 79 children and 14 infants.

“Schools should come with playgrounds, not graveyards,” ERFN Chief Jenny Wolverine said in a release.

According to that release, on Aug. 8, ground-penetrating radar produced several positive hits at the former site of the school. The initial findings of the Areas of Interest (AOI’s) were consistent with what were believed to be 83 possible unmarked graves.

“We are saddened to learn of the additional findings and we know our work is not over, not at Beauval and not at any of the other residential school sites,” Wolverine said in the release.

“We need to pool our resources, First Nations and Métis, to continue. We need Canada and Saskatchewan to step up, acknowledge and provide meaningful resources that meet the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs of survivors and addresses the intergenerational impacts to families.”

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation says the St. Bruno’s boarding school was opened by Roman Catholic missionaries in 1860 at Ile-a-la-Crosse.

“In 1906 the school was moved to the confluence of the La Plonge and Beaver Rivers,” the NCTR said. “In 1927, 19 students and one teacher died in a fire that destroyed the school and the dormitories.

“In 1969 the federal government took over the administration of the school. In 1985 full control of the school and residence was transferred to the Meadow Lake Tribal Council. The residence closed in 1995.”

The chief and council of the English River First Nation were joined at Tuesday’s announcement by Elders and by representatives of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, Métis Nation–Saskatchewan and the Office of the Treaty Commissioner.

Together, they called for action by Canadians and governments to address the injustices suffered by residential school survivors. To that end, they called on groups to implement the Calls to Action, including:

• Installing culturally appropriate memorials in communities;
• Erecting a meaningful and respectful monument to acknowledge all residential schools;
• Creating healing centres to address the continued harms of residential school;
• Providing complete records that list all students who attended residential schools; and
• Embarking on a national educational journey that properly reflects the effects residential schools have had on First Nations and Métis families.

The findings at the former site of the Beauval residential school follow discoveries on other First Nations in Saskatchewan, including the Cowessess First Nation and the Keeseekoose First Nation.

https://panow.com/2023/08/29/sask-first-nation-locates-93-unmarked-grave...

[quote=Paladin1 wrote: 

If you'd like someone to argue with about that national spending, fossil fuel, climate change, and anything else you're passionate about feel free to invite me to the appropriate thread and I'll plan the villain. 

You are the one who said " feel free to invite me to the appropriate thread " on climate change, so all I did was take you up on your request.

All your doing is trolling. Like the rest of the conservatives you have no answers on how to deal with the climate crisis except ignore it. You don't want to deal with the issue. Bye bye.

Paladin1 wrote:

jerrym wrote:

All your doing is trolling. Like the rest of the conservatives you have no answers on how to deal with the climate crisis except ignore it. You don't want to deal with the issue. Bye bye.

Bullshit.
You really really really want to talk climate change.
You insinuated I didn't care about the climate because I never posted in your climate change thread.
You don't want to debate and discuss climate and climate change, you want to hold sermons about it.

The Stó:lō Nation in B.C.'s Fraser Valley states that it has confirmed the death of 158 indigenous children " at three former residential school sites and one former hospital". They have also used ground penetrating radar to identify anomalies that could the remains of indigenous children at these sites. "Archival research, reviewing oral histories and interviews with survivors also shed light on the extent of the emotional, physical, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as neglect and malnourishment that children experienced at these institution."

The Stó:lō Nation in B.C.'s Fraser Valley says its probe into missing children and unmarked burials has so far identified, with certainty, 158 children who died at or because of their attendance at three former residential school sites and one former hospital. Preliminary findings from ground-penetrating radar also suggest numerous anomalies that could be unmarked graves at St. Mary's Residential School in Mission, according to the Nation's research team. "The heaviness of the work today cannot be summed into words," said Chief David Jimmie, president of the Stó:lō Nation.

Officials with the nation provided a public update over the work on Thursday afternoon at the site of Pekw'xe:yles (St. Mary's Residential School), about 60 kilometres east of Vancouver. According to archival research and interviews conducted by the Nation, 37 children died at or due to their attendance at Coqualeetza Industrial Institute/Residential School in Chilliwack, 20 died at St. Mary's, five died at All Hallow School in Yale and 96 children between ages five and 20 died at the Coqualeetza Indian Hospital. The vast majority of children — 133 of 158 — were reported to have died due to illnesses like tuberculosis and pneumonia, or complications thereof, said project manager Amber Kostuchenko, emotion rising in her voice.  Of those, 79 died of tuberculosis at Coqualeetza Indian Hospital, said Kostuchenko.

In December 2021, the Stó:lō Nation announced a three-year plan to search the grounds of the four institutions. The undertaking by the Stó:lō was launched following news that ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be more than 200 graves at a former residential school in Kamloops in May 2021. Similar searches and findings have or are taking place in several provinces across Canada.

Three children at Coqualeetza reportedly died due to injuries, and the cause of death for the other 21 deaths is not yet known, said Kostuchenko.

Jimmie, Grand Chief Doug Kelly, and survivors said the work is about honouring their ancestors and survivors, not simply tallying the number who died. "This isn't a victory. This isn't a win. This is justice. This is a validation of what me and my people have gone through in residential schools driven by the government with the backbone of the church," said Cyril Pierre, a member of the Katzie First Nation and survivor of St. Mary's Indian Residential School, in a statement on Thursday. "The hurt and the pain the generations have faced is now coming to the surface, and this is the part of the truth that Canada must face."

Archival research, reviewing oral histories and interviews with survivors also shed light on the extent of the emotional, physical, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as neglect and malnourishment that children experienced at these institutions, said project lead David Schaepe, the director and senior archaeologist at the Stó:lō Nation's Research and Resource Management Centre. He said the research team heard cases of children being killed, secretive burials of children and babies, furnaces being used to cremate bodies and children being forced to bury other children. The team also heard stories and found evidence of children being intentionally infected with tuberculosis and other disease as punishment, being forced to eat mouldy food, and forced labour, Schaepe said.

One story included firefighters responding to a fire at the St. Mary's girls' dormitory and finding remains of fetuses in the walls, he added. Sobs from an audience member were audible as Schaepe shared the findings with members of the public and media. The devastating findings confirm what residential school survivors and community members have long known, said Jimmie and Kelly. "Our people are carrying mixed emotions. We're on a journey to confirming the truth that we carry in our DNA. We're on a journey to discover facts about what we have already heard from our great grandparents, our grandparents, past chiefs and leaders, about what took place in residential schools," said Kelly. "We know, in here, that some of those children never made it home," he added, pointing to his heart. ...

The team has retrieved more than 35,000 documents from provincial archives, the Royal B.C. Museum and other records vaults, but Kostuchenko estimates it is only about half of the documents it needs to complete its mandate. Jimmie called on the federal government to provide long-term funding to First Nations pursuing this work and work to make it easier for Nations to access necessary documentation from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg. "It is unreasonably restrictive to Indigenous nations seeking access to control their information held by the national centre," said Jimmie.

More than 150,000 children were forced to attend residential schools in Canada from the 1830s until the final school closed in 1997. The institutions were created by the Canadian government to assimilate Indigenous people, in part by forcibly separating children from their parents. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said large numbers of Indigenous children who were sent to the institutions never returned home. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation says around 4,100 children died at the schools, based on death records, but adds that the true total is likely much higher.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/stó-lō-nation-residential-schools-missing-children-unmarked-burials-1.6974053#:~:text=The%20undertaking%20by%20the%20Stó%3Alō%20was%20launched%20following,are%20taking%20place%20in%20several%20provinces%20across%20Canada.