Bodies of 215 children are found in mass grave at Catholic Church-run 'Indian residential school' as ex-student recalls how classmates would vanish and PM Justin Trudeau brands discovery 'shameful'

[dalsingh101]

Waheguru!!!

Bodies of 215 children are found in mass grave at Catholic Church-run 'Indian residential school' as ex-student recalls how classmates would vanish and PM Justin Trudeau brands discovery 'shameful'

• Remains of 215 children have been found at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia in Canada
• The remains were found with the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist after long-held suspicions about the fate of missing students 
• One survivor told how children would suddenly disappear from the school without explanation, and sexual and physical abuse was common
• Many of those killed are feared to have died of diseases including tuberculosis, with survivors recalling how they endured physical and sexual abuse 
• Canada's residential school system forcibly separated more then 150,000 indigenous children from their families from 1863 to 1998
• A six-year Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the now-defunct system found in 2015 that it  constituted 'cultural genocide'
• The latest discovery is the first time a mass burial site has been found and is expected to set of a 'wave of litigation'
• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has described the discovery as 'heartbreaking' 
• An artist displayed 215 pairs of children's shoes on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery to create a space for 'grief, reflection'

 

 

The remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, have been found buried at a former residential school for indigenous children in Canada. 

Those youngsters were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978, according to the Tk'emlúps te Secwepemc Nation, which said the remains were found with the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist.

None of them have been identified, and it remains unclear how they died. 

'This is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions,' British Columbia premier John Horgan said in a statement, adding he was 'horrified and heartbroken' that 215 bodies had been found at the site. 

'It's a harsh reality and it's our truth, it's our history,' Tk'emlúps te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir told a media conference Friday. 

'And it's something that we've always had to fight to prove. To me, it's always been a horrible, horrible history.'  

Casimir said they had begun searching for the remains of missing children at the school grounds in the early 2000s, as they had long suspected official explanations of runaway children were part of a cover-up by the state.  

Canada's residential school system, which forcibly separated indigenous children from their families, constituted 'cultural genocide,' a six-year investigation into the now-defunct system found in 2015.

The system was created by Christian churches and the Canadian government in the 19th century in an attempt to 'assimilate' and convert indigenous youngsters into Canadian society.  They were forcibly removed from their families to attend the schools. 

Many of the children found dead are feared to have suffered deadly diseases including tuberculosis, although survivors say physical and sexual abuse was rife. 

The National Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada documented horrific physical abuse, rape, malnutrition and other atrocities suffered by many of the 150,000 children who attended the schools, typically run by Christian churches on behalf of state governments from the 1840s to the 1990s.

It found more than 4,100 children died while attending residential schools. 

The deaths of the 215 children buried in the grounds of what was once Canada's largest residential school are believed to not have been included in that figure and appear to have been undocumented until the discovery shared on Friday.  

Survivors who attended the school say had friends and classmates who disappeared suddenly, and were never spoken of again. 

A survivor of the Kamloops school, Chief Harvey McLeod of the Upper Nicola Band, said the gruesome discovery had brought up painful memories of his time there. 

McLeod was taken to the school in 1966 with seven of his siblings, and says he suffered physical and sexual abuse there.

His parents had also attended the school, and said it must have been traumatizing for them dropping off their children knowing the misery that awaited them. 

'I lost my heart, it was so much hurt and pain to finally hear, for the outside world, to finally hear what we assumed was happening there,' McLeod told CNN. 

 

The children whose remains were found were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia (pictured) that closed in 1978

 

The remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, were found at the site. Many area feared to have succumbed to diseases including TB, although abuse was rife at the school

Chief Harvey McLeod, of the Upper Nicola Band, said children would go missing from the Kamloops residential school and never be heard from again

 

 

Children would disappear suddenly from the residential facility, and no one would question where they had gone.

'It was assumed that they ran away and were never going to come back. We just never seen them again and nobody ever talked about them,' he told CTV.

Chief McLeod said despite the pain and trauma that the discovery had resurfaced, he hoped it would allow he and other survivors to heal.  

'I have forgiven, I have forgiven my parents, I have forgiven my abusers, I have broken the chain that held me back at that school, I don't want to live there anymore but at the same time make sure that the people who didn't come home are acknowledged and respected and brought home in a good way,' he told CNN.  

Another survivor Jeanette Jules said the news had 'triggered memories hurt, and pain'.

Jules, who now works a a counsellor with Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Indian Band, said she was haunted by memories of the guards coming to the children's rooms at night. 

'I would hear clunk, clunk...and it is one of the security guards...then the whimpers,...the whimpers because here is the guy who molests people,' she told CTV. 

The Canadian PM Trudeau wrote in a tweet that the news 'breaks my heart - it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country's history.'

The Kamloops Indian Residential School in 1937. The school was established in 1890 and operated until 1969, its roll peaking at 500 during the 1950s 

 

Read more: 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9630875/Remains-215-children-former-indigenous-school-site-Canada.html

 

[Lioness1]

This is awful. The governement should have known, what kind of government doesnt keep tabs on a school like that, especially where children were going missing. How disgusting. Governments should be monitoring schools strictly and ensuring that no child in care is ever be abused. Unfortunately many government officials are involved in child abuse as history has shown, there needs to be a change.

[dalsingh101]

1 hour ago, Lioness1 said:

This is awful. The governement should have known, what kind of government doesnt keep tabs on a school like that, especially where children were going missing. How disgusting. Governments should be monitoring schools strictly and ensuring that no child in care is ever be abused. Unfortunately many government officials are involved in child abuse as history has shown, there needs to be a change.

Goes all the way to the top. I think only brave, active people at ground level can prevent this stuff, the others just cover it up:

 

 

[Ragmaala]

 

[Ragmaala]

So much pain...

[Lioness1]

On 5/29/2021 at 11:24 PM, Ragmaala said:

So much pain...

He's a brave man. It shows how strong people can be. Native Indians were treated so badly, for someone to just come and invade somones land within itself is horrific, then force them to go to a school with such horrific abuse is hell. It was awful that survivors said that some of their parents were sent to that school and abused, and still sent their children there after, knowing they would be abused. And the american media had the nerve to make fun of them after all they were put through through movies and television. Very sad, the karma of those who abused them will come around, it always does. 

[Lioness1]

On 5/29/2021 at 8:01 PM, dalsingh101 said:

Goes all the way to the top. I think only brave, active people at ground level can prevent this stuff, the others just cover it up:

 

 

Because alot of them are bad people and heartless. More good people should start getting ivolved and questioning the governements on these issues. The way it was handled by the Canadian Governement has been unacceptable.

[dalsingh101]

On 5/31/2021 at 1:30 AM, Lioness1 said:

Because alot of them are bad people and heartless. More good people should start getting ivolved and questioning the governements on these issues. The way it was handled by the Canadian Governement has been unacceptable.

This ain't a one off, it's a cultural phenomena if you ask me:

 

Tulsa race massacre, a century later: wounds still open and weeping

 

Over 24 hours on 31 May 1921, Tulsa witnessed what is thought to be the worst single event of white supremacist violence against African Americans in the nation’s history

 

• Tulsa massacre: act of terrorism America tried to forget

 

Ed Pilkington

@edpilkington

Tue 1 Jun 2021 07.00 BST

 

•  
•  
•  

 

 

The full-page advert in a special Black History edition of USA Today presents a technicolor vision of modern-day Tulsa, with sparkling images of public parks and brightly painted murals celebrating the local Black community under the banner headline: “Tulsa Triumphs.”

“Tulsa is leading America’s journey to racial healing,” the text says, inviting visitors from across the US to sample the delights of Oklahoma’s second-largest city. The enticements include “an emotional opportunity for learning and reflection” and a “space for reconciliation … Tulsa triumphs, and you can be a part of this pilgrimage.”

 

The advert is a brazen attempt to turn Tulsa’s grim distinction as the setting of one of the most grotesque mass lynchings in US history into a tourist draw. It is the work of the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, a body of prominent state and city politicians and other local notables who have put together the city’s established version of the 100th anniversary of a very special day.

On that day, 31 May 1921, white Tulsans ran amok, shooting any Black person in sight, dropping incendiary devices from the air on to their homes and burning to the ground one of the most flourishing Black business districts in the country, known as “Black Wall Street”. Some 35 blocks of Black real estate in the Greenwood neighbourhood were destroyed.

 

Read more: 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/01/tulsa-race-massacre-a-century-later

[Lioness1]

8 hours ago, dalsingh101 said:

This ain't a one off, it's a cultural phenomena if you ask me:

 

Tulsa race massacre, a century later: wounds still open and weeping

 

Over 24 hours on 31 May 1921, Tulsa witnessed what is thought to be the worst single event of white supremacist violence against African Americans in the nation’s history

 

• Tulsa massacre: act of terrorism America tried to forget

 

 

Ed Pilkington

@edpilkington

Tue 1 Jun 2021 07.00 BST

 

•  
•  
•  

 

 

The full-page advert in a special Black History edition of USA Today presents a technicolor vision of modern-day Tulsa, with sparkling images of public parks and brightly painted murals celebrating the local Black community under the banner headline: “Tulsa Triumphs.”

“Tulsa is leading America’s journey to racial healing,” the text says, inviting visitors from across the US to sample the delights of Oklahoma’s second-largest city. The enticements include “an emotional opportunity for learning and reflection” and a “space for reconciliation … Tulsa triumphs, and you can be a part of this pilgrimage.”

 

The advert is a brazen attempt to turn Tulsa’s grim distinction as the setting of one of the most grotesque mass lynchings in US history into a tourist draw. It is the work of the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Commission, a body of prominent state and city politicians and other local notables who have put together the city’s established version of the 100th anniversary of a very special day.

On that day, 31 May 1921, white Tulsans ran amok, shooting any Black person in sight, dropping incendiary devices from the air on to their homes and burning to the ground one of the most flourishing Black business districts in the country, known as “Black Wall Street”. Some 35 blocks of Black real estate in the Greenwood neighbourhood were destroyed.

 

Read more: 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/01/tulsa-race-massacre-a-century-later

True. Racism still exists around us, apparently during covid, hate crimes against asians heightened dramatically in the UK. It's good to start speaking out against it, it only takes a few people to start the hate and it can spread rapidly as it did in nazi germany. Quite worrying. Look at the indian government and how their rampage against sikhs over the decades. Calling Sikhs terrorists all over their censored news channels through the farmers crises was horrible, after all of their crimes against Sikhs. 

[dalsingh101]

20 hours ago, Lioness1 said:

apparently during covid, hate crimes against asians heightened dramatically in the UK.

What do you mean by 'asians' here. In the UK it is mainly used to refer to brown people, in the US, Chinese looking people. 

 

20 hours ago, Lioness1 said:

It's good to start speaking out against it, it only takes a few people to start the hate and it can spread rapidly as it did in nazi germany. Quite worrying.

It should be part of a Sikh's dharam to fight this. We are having a rightward swing in england, but these lot are different to Germans, they like to do things on the sly a lot more, whereas the Krauts just get right to it. It's only worrying if our men (so-called Singhs) don't behave like men and instead go down the route of greed and cowardice. I grew up in a time when racism and racist attacks were a norm. I've seen what it takes to kill that. Whether this new generation would have the tuttay to do that, if it reoccurs, is something we will see. 

 

20 hours ago, Lioness1 said:

Look at the indian government and how their rampage against sikhs over the decades. Calling Sikhs terrorists all over their censored news channels through the farmers crises was horrible, after all of their crimes against Sikhs. 

I ain't going to lie, it seems like typical third world backwardness to me. Our own lot need to wizen up on the socio-politico front too. They come across as uneducated, backwards country bumpkins. We seriously need a hardcore education drive through Panjab. Not for employment reasons, but just to make our people a lot less provincial. We need to shape up for the 21st century. 

[GurjantGnostic]

On 5/29/2021 at 10:59 AM, Lioness1 said:

This is awful. The governement should have known, what kind of government doesnt keep tabs on a school like that, especially where children were going missing. How disgusting. Governments should be monitoring schools strictly and ensuring that no child in care is ever be abused. Unfortunately many government officials are involved in child abuse as history has shown, there needs to be a change.

Uhh  ...All the common wealth ones...your people.