Residential Schools: Locations Of Mass Graves Revealed
Location of Mass Graves of Residential School Children Revealed; Independent Tribunal Established
Squamish Nation Territory (”Vancouver, Canada”) - At a public ceremony and press conference held today outside the colonial “Indian Affairs” building in downtown Vancouver, the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) released a list of twenty eight mass graves across Canada holding the remains of untold numbers of aboriginal children who died in Indian Residential Schools.
The list was distributed today to the world media and to United Nations agencies, as the first act of the newly-formed International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC), a non-governmental body established by indigenous elders.
In a statement read by FRD spokesperson Eagle Strong Voice, it was declared that the IHRTGC would commence its investigations on April 15, 2008, the fourth Annual Aboriginal Holocaust Memorial Day. This inquiry will involve international human rights observers from Guatemala and Cyprus , and will convene aboriginal courts of justice where those persons and institutions responsible for the death and suffering of residential school children will be tried and sentenced. (The complete Statement and List of Mass Graves is reproduced below).
Eagle Strong Voice and IHRTGC elders will present the Mass Graves List at the United Nations on April 19, and will ask United Nations agencies to protect and monitor the mass graves as part of a genuine inquiry and judicial prosecution of those responsible for this Canadian Genocide.
Eyewitness Sylvester Greene spoke to the media at today’s event, and described how he helped bury a young Inuit boy at the United Church’s Edmonton residential school in 1953.
“We were told never to tell anyone by Jim Ludford, the Principal, who got me and three other boys to bury him. But a lot more kids got buried all the time in that big grave next to the school.”
Do make sure you pay attention to some of the descriptions included in the he locations listed.
A. British Columbia
1. Port Alberni: Presbyterian-United Church school (1895-1973), now occupied by the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Tribal Council (NTC) office, Kitskuksis Road . Grave site is a series of sinkhole rows in hills 100 metres due west of the NTC building, in thick foliage, past an unused water pipeline. Children also interred at Tseshaht reserve cemetery, and in wooded gully east of Catholic cemetery on River Road .
2. Alert Bay : St. Michael’s Anglican school (1878-1975), situated on Cormorant Island offshore from Port McNeill. Presently building is used by Namgis First Nation. Site is an overgrown field adjacent to the building, and also under the foundations of the present new building, constructed during the 1960’s. Skeletons seen “between the walls”.
3. Kuper Island: Catholic school (1890-1975), offshore from Chemainus. Land occupied by Penelakut Band. Former building is destroyed except for a staircase. Two grave sites: one immediately south of the former building, in a field containing a conventional cemetery; another at the west shoreline in a lagoon near the main dock.
4. Nanaimo Indian Hospital: Indian Affairs and United Church experimental facility (1942-1970) on Department of National Defense land. Buildings now destroyed. Grave sites are immediately east of former buildings on Fifth avenue , adjacent to and south of Malaspina College .
5. Mission: St. Mary’s Catholic school (1861-1984), adjacent to and north of Lougheed Highway and Fraser River Heritage Park . Original school buildings are destroyed, but many foundations are visible on the grounds of the Park.
In this area there are two grave sites: a) immediately adjacent to former girls’ dormitory and present cemetery for priests, and a larger mass grave in an artificial earthen mound, north of the cemetery among overgrown foliage and blackberry bushes, and b) east of the old school grounds, on the hilly slopes next to the field leading to the newer school building which is presently used by the Sto:lo First Nation. Hill site is 150 metres west of building.
6. North Vancouver: Squamish (1898-1959) and Sechelt (1912-1975) Catholic schools, buildings destroyed. Graves of children who died in these schools interred in the Squamish Band Cemetery , North Vancouver .
7. Sardis: Coqualeetza Methodist-United Church school (1889-1940), then experimental hospital run by federal government (1940-1969). Native burial site next to Sto:lo reserve and Little Mountain school, also possibly adjacent to former school-hospital building.
8. Cranbrook: St. Eugene Catholic school (1898-1970), recently converted into a tourist “resort” with federal funding, resulting in the covering-over of a mass burial site by a golf course in front of the building. Numerous grave sites are around and under this golf course.
9. Williams Lake : Catholic school (1890-1981), buildings destroyed but foundations intact, five miles south of city. Grave sites reported north of school grounds and under foundations of tunnel-like structure.
10. Meares Island (Tofino): Kakawis-Christie Catholic school (1898-1974). Buildings incorporated into Kakawis Healing Centre. Body storage room reported in basement, adjacent to burial grounds south of school.
11. Kamloops : Catholic school (1890-1978). Buildings intact. Mass grave south of school, adjacent to and amidst orchard. Numerous burials witnessed there.
12. Lytton: St. George’s Anglican school (1901-1979). Graves of students flogged to death, and others, reported under floorboards and next to playground.
13. Fraser Lake : Lejac Catholic school (1910-1976), buildings destroyed. Graves reported under old foundations and between the walls.
Alberta:
1. Edmonton : United Church school (1919-1960), presently site of the Poundmaker Lodge in St. Albert . Graves of children reported south of former school site, under thick hedge that runs north-south, adjacent to memorial marker.
2. Edmonton : Charles Camsell Hospital (1945-1967), building intact, experimental hospital run by Indian Affairs and United Church . Mass graves of children from hospital reported south of building, near staff garden.
3. Saddle Lake : Bluequills Catholic school (1898-1970), building intact, skeletons and skulls observed in basement furnace. Mass grave reported adjacent to school.
4. Hobbema: Ermineskin Catholic school (1916-1973), five intact skeletons observed in school furnace. Graves under former building foundations.
Manitoba:
1. Brandon : Methodist-United Church school (1895-1972). Building intact. Burials reported west of school building.
2. Portage La Prairie: Presbyterian-United Church school (1895-1950). Children buried at nearby Hillside Cemetery .
3. Norway House: Methodist-United Church school (1900-1974). “Very old” grave site next to former school building, demolished by United Church in 2004.
Ontario:
1. Thunder Bay : Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital , still in operation. Experimental centre. Women and children reported buried adjacent to hospital grounds.
2. Sioux Lookout: Pelican Lake Catholic school (1911-1973). Burials of children in mound near to school.
3. Kenora: Cecilia Jeffrey school, Presbyterian-United Church (1900-1966). Large burial mound east of former school.
4. Fort Albany : St. Anne’s Catholic school (1936-1964). Children killed in electric chair buried next to school.
5. Spanish: Catholic school (1883-1965). Numerous graves.
6. Brantford : Mohawk Institute, Anglican church (1850-1969), building intact. Series of graves in orchard behind school building, under rows of trees.
7. Sault Ste. Marie: Shingwauk Anglican school (1873-1969), some intact buildings. Several graves of children reported on grounds of old school.
Quebec:
1. Montreal : Allan Memorial Institute, McGill University , still in operation since opening in 1940. MKULTRA experimental centre. Mass grave of children killed there north of building, on southern slopes of Mount Royal behind stone wall.
Edit: Time stamp changed from 10:28 April 15, 2008 to April 18, 2008 to move to top of page
Just awful.
I’m surprised that there is no grave sites like this in Saskatchewan.
Not sure if you’ve ever heard the story of the Beauval Indian Residential School, where in the 1920s it burnt down killing about 20 students. When I was interviewing elders in the area for a book they told me that the nuns had locked the doors behind them. Standing on the site of the tragedy, it was a chilling reminder of how grotesque some of our history is.
I am speechless, truly speechless. This needs to be investigated immediately and those responsible for any wrongful acts, if any are still alive, brought to justice.
I’m pretty angry and ashamed right now, so take that into account, but I sincerely hope this destroys the Anglican and Catholic churches in this country. Nothing but racist criminal gangs.
” … but I sincerely hope this destroys the Anglican and Catholic churches in this country. Nothing but racist criminal gangs.”
Wow. That is clearly over the line. Talk about emulating that which you purport to decry.
Aeneas,
As I stated, I am angry. Pissed beyond words.
I am a former Anglican myself and my family have been staunch Anglicans for over 150 years - my great-grandfather was the Anglican Minister in Lennoxville Quebec 100 years ago. The thought that our money, lives and efforts were supporting an organization committing such heinous crimes not only against aboriginals, but against innocent children sickens me.
Sorry, but taking children from their families, physically and sexually abusing them, destroying their language and culture then burying their bodies in unmarked mass graves is what is “clearly over the line”.
All in the name of “saving their souls” or “civilizing them”, I suppose.
By “destroying” I mean financially. I mean that I hope every piece of property, every church, every silver chalice and every other chattel both organizations has must be sold in order to repay the survivors for this genocidal wrong. Unlike them, I don’t want a single person to be harmed, but I want justice for those aboriginal kids that died and disappeared at their hand.
Is that “over the line”? So be it. I am angry and my entire family heritage has been betrayed and forever tainted by these organizations. There is blood on their hands, the blood of dead aboriginal children. They deserve to be as destroyed as the Nazis or the Klan for what they have done.
I want to make sure they - or any other organization - can commit these kinds of crimes again.
Sorry if that is too harsh, but at this point I do no care.
“I want to make sure they - or any other organization - can commit these kinds of crimes again.”
I strongly assume you mean “cannot” commit.
At any rate, I notice that the Methodist, Presbyterian, United, as well as Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches are named in this document, so your singling-out of the Catholics and Anglicans is what seems exceedingly harsh.
Further, none of these Churches - as structured today - are capable of the type of racist deeds that you are decrying. To suggest we need to wipe-out Churches and Communions that are far removed in time from these heartless and quite un-Christian acts is radical and extremist.
If these allegations are true, then they say more about the attitudes of the 19th and early 20th Century than they do about communicants today. If true, they are extremely lamentable and heinous.
However, as an Anglican, I resent the implication that I personally bear part of the collective responsibility for the past.
Many say that Germany should be allowed to forget the Nazi-era; I say they should not. However, I do not wish the extermination of the German people. They should remember in order not to repeat. But they should not be eradicated because they once did things that are beyond the unspeakable.
Well, if crimes were committed and the nation has sites to investigate, so be it. And if there weren’t crimes committed, let’s find that out too. Assign funds and forensic archaeologists.
At the very least, it can be documented what is physically there as remains and artifacts and not there in each of those places, instead of leaving it blank and undetermined, with shadows over all.
The honest of us know shitty, Othering crap was pulled in the previous centuries of this nation (and still goes on). Be a lot less wasteful to respect the fact Canada was not built on the Golden Rule and to hold ourselves and our descendants to the fire so it doesn’t happen in future. The ghosts in our soil deserve it.
Am I the only one that noticed the following?
…Children KILLED IN ELECTRIC CHAIR…
…STUDENTS FLOGGED TO DEATH…
I’m not a religious person, but things like this bring out the Old Testament part of me…specifically “An eye for an eye”.
What kind of psycho kills children in an electric chair? How much flogging does it take to kill someone?
“Am I the only one that noticed the following?”
Yes. I skimmed the article and got hung up on the locations (the golf course is particularly disturbing to me).
I’m with Aeneas: “If these allegations are true, then they say more about the attitudes of the 19th and early 20th Century than they do about communicants today. If true, they are extremely lamentable and heinous.”
Should there be investigations and reparation? Absolutely. However, I would bet that the bulk of those commiting the crimes are already burning in Hell, although if there are some still alive, no, they should absolutely NOT be allowed to finish their twilight years in peace. They should be made to meet with the families they helped destroy, ideally from inside an institution.
“I skimmed the article …”
To clarify, I also skim articles on Auschwitz. I don’t need to re-read the details to recognize that ugly things were done. The same is true (for me) with residential schools.
Just wanted to be clear that in no way, shape or form am I condoning the behaviour of those in authority.
My late Uncle Joe Sylvester told me that if people poked around behind where the old Kuper Island school they would find bodies. I’ve never shared that before - because I didn’t know what to do with the information.
Joe claimed that if the girls in the school got pregnant, that’s what they would do to the babies.
How would the girls get pregnant at a Church run school where kids were trapped on an island?
Good question.
Anyways.. even when you have reliable people telling you something like this, you don’t generally want to believe it. I thought for a time that Joe was talking about maybe one or two infants. But when I pressed him on it, he said it was more like over a dozen. I thought to myself “There’s no way this can be true”.
But I still remembered what he said.
I didn’t know what to believe — until I read this.
Joe said the babies were buried behind the school. I remember that very clearly. Too bad he’s no longer with us to ask him what he thinks of all this.
“I strongly assume you mean “cannot” commit.”
Of course. Sorry, as I said, I was pretty pissed when I wrote that…and ashamed considering my family’s historical connection to the church at the time these things were happening.
I want justice and I want people other than the 5 or 6 of us here to notice.
No personal affront to you intended Aeneas, nor to any individual Anglicans (including many members of my family). Someone must be held to account. Why are people in the church arguing over silly things like gay marriage when something like this must have been known…
MW,
I hope that this, if it ever gets any media attention, will cause others to talk about the stories and memories like you have - I suspect what is in the article is merely the tip of the iceberg.
Once again I went through the mainstream news and found nothing - you’d think that allegations of kids bodies stuffed into walls or under floor boards would tweak somebodies interest. In what other developed nation could a group of people release a statement about hundreds (possibly thousands) of dead children, some of them electrocuted, some of them flogged to death, and bodies found in furnaces, and the media not jump all over it?
How much more significant is that than whether or not some gay bashing Conservative MP gets his hand slapped in public or not, or even whether or not the Prime Minister is involved in election finance corruption?
If this isn’t the top story with the CPC being “raided” then our country is no better than it was when they took place.
I listened to a long discussion of the issue on CBC Radio One this morning. Still there isn’t much in the media.
As harsh as it may sound, I think there are several reasons why this hasn’t attracted much media attention:
1. Many Canadians have moved on. The tragedy of residential school’s has been examined, apologies made and reparations paid. Small comfort for those involved. I expect many people not close to the issue acknowledge that terrible things happened but see little likelihood these things could happen today.
2. Some of the allegations are difficult to comprehend so an initial rejection isn’t unusual.
3. I think some of the language ( eg: “genocide” and “mass graves” ) will appear exaggerated until an inquiry produces objective support. Right now it’s a list of allegations.
Not everyone will share Mike’s principled outrage or shared sense of guilt.
I don’t buy it Kevin, if Canadians have, as you say, moved on it is because they either [a] don’t care, and/or [b] would prefer to forget, that their supposedly benevolent institutions and their governments played a role in what was quite clearly attempted cultural genocide.
I would further suggest to you that any difficulty in comprehending that this could have happened is a sign of complete (and most probably willful) ignorance of history.
I think a lot of people can get riled enough to do something over the killing of seals, or the possible extinction of polar bears due to global warming, and even a truly idiotic statement by some Canadian mayor.
But when stories like this about Aboriginal peoples appear, stories that reflect back upon the reader because it deals with the actions of their leaders (past or present) or their institutions (past or present), I think some kind of psychic self-defense mechanism pops into gear.
You know that you aren’t personally capable of doing anything that horrible. You know that you personally would never sit idly by if you knew that something this horrible were going on today.
Yet, in the end, that is exactly what happens. By the time all of that has been rationalized, a perfectly good excuse for doing nothing has already been created.
I’m not pointing fingers. I’m just trying to understand. I think we all react like this to some extent no matter where we come from or how we were raised. I think it’s just another factor that separates “the other” — no matter who the “other” is.
If you’d said “[a] don’t care anymore”, I’m not sure we’d be saying different things.
Ah, but you see Kevin, I do think that people just don’t care, if they did this would be large news, they don’t and it isn’t.
This isn’t, as so many willfully choose to believe, ancient history. This happened within many of our life times, I have good friends and relatives who were forced to endure this sort treatment - and I’m not even close to ancient.
Finally (at least) one other blogger has picked up on this and asks the question
My kids know - how many others can say the same?
I just had a conversation with my landlady a coupla hours ago while paying my (late) rent. She asked me where I worked, and I told her I worked for XXXXXX. Part of my jobs deals with an aspect of the legacy of Residential Schools, and she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. This woman was in her early-mid 50’s, and had not a clue….
She was no immigrant either….just didn’t know, and when I explained it, she didn’t seem to care.
But she sure knew the Senators were playing tonight…
[...] this might even be the most disturbing for the decade. Within the last 50 years, there have been state and church sponsored mass graves in Canada. Top story? Not so much. I guess racism is alive and well in this country (sadly). Sphere: Related [...]
If you can track down a screening or copy of “Muffins for Granny”, go see it. Quite moving. A granddaughter’s tribute to her grandmother who grew up in a residential school.
http://sheenavision.blogspot.com/2007/06/muffins-for-granny.html
Oi vey.
I think Shmohawk’s got it.
I’ve been doing human rights stuff for years, and very often outreach actions are met with Rational Skepticism. Must be a conspiracy theory, must be crazy talk, must be hysterics and malcontents and crazy agendas. It must be a more benign evil - one of the human rights campaign taking away someone’s comfort, rather than the big evil of organized “barbaric” behaviour in civilization.
At first, this made me frustrated; I would rather sort through false positives than false negatives. Better to investigate it all then close our eyes to one. Now I hope to understand that people are mostly good, and this side of our humanity is terribly frightening because it is in and of our species. We wish to reject it totally. I don’t really believe in dismissal/repression/rejection as an effective way of making the dangerous safer - and that’s similarly my way of coping. (It’s a philosophy which underlines most of my belief systems.)
I wonder if talk of fascism or race-killing comes back to Nazis, even though it’s still happening all over, is because people simply can’t imagine it happening to people around them. There’s got to be celebrity or some Singular and Special entity to hold our understanding, and to help us both define and control it. In all the discussion of China, for example, our protests seem to get to “Free Tibet” - because of the Dalai Lama - but all the deeply disturbing shit that’s happening to Chinese, by other Chinese, is an evaporating discussion.
Rwanda’s got a name, now, but no one believed it while it was happening at the time. A Hollywood movie and suddenly people can *encompass* the idea that serious shit’s gone down.
I think that sometimes skepticism and disassociation as coping strategies are served by the same modes: Hollywood is seeing-is-believing “proof”, but it’s also a layer of disassociation - those people aren’t us. Not really. They’re Hollywood.
Sorry I got here so late. I will do something tomorrow.
>Nothing but racist criminal gangs.
Nice fine-tipped brush you wield there.
I would like to have emotion to touch this issue. I really would. I would like to feel outraged. But I can’t. I just can’t work myself up anymore. There are so many people I have known who have died much earlier than they should have — who would never have gotten deathly ill if there had been better knowledge and use of medical care. I’ve been to too many funerals for people who, having lived through the horror of the residential schools drank themselves to death… The alcohol acting like a balm for their troubled souls. I know of too many people who have T.B. I know of too many people who died from compliciations related to diabetes. I am thoroughly numbed out. As the wonderful poet Sherman Alexie once wrote “I have nothing new to say about death”. There are no words.
When you have sat and listened to the stories of life in these “schools” — and heard about children, ages 7-10 being forced to labour well into the night to pay for their “room and board” - instead of actually learning how to read and write…
When you have sat down with elders who were supposed to have been educated in these places and realized they only got a grade 3 education… and are humbled by your ease in reading notices from the band office. You don’t have time or energy to get angry.
But it hits you sometimes.. really hard, and you want to pull your hair out from the grief and pain that you have witnessed… but there is nobody around to explain how frustrated you are with what has happened, and what continues to happen to your grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins….
I’m glad that people here have the energy to get angry.
I can’t. I’m too tired.
So thank you for being able to carry the anger and the outrage for my relatives. If enough non-aboriginals got good and angry about what is happening to my relatives, then maybe something would change.
But I’m too tired to wait for that to happen.
Back in the 90s I did a lot of work helping to document a Cree Elder’s efforts to recover his heritage, to heal and to help his people to heal. He’d been through the residential system in Manitoba. His stories of beatings, physical and sexual violence at the hands of supposed men of the cloth were quite simply chilling. The fact is that the government and the churches colluded to steal the land and resources of the native peoples. They abducted the children of the native peoples and for decade after decade heaped sadistic abuse upon these children. The atrocities of Nazi Germany were mentioned, those heinous crime were orchestrated and executed in less than two decades. The residential school system in Canada ran for four or five generations and was not extinguished until late in the 20th century, look at the dates of the closures of the facilities. These crimes operated well into the 70s and in some instances into the 80s.
Five generations of systematic crimes against children constitutes an entrenched culture of criminal violence within the churches, their hierarchies and they prospered with the collusion of our governments. It is little wonder that representatives of the racist South African state visited Canada and modeled much of apartheid on the pioneering efforts of the bigots, criminals and monsters who held themselves up as pious men and women of the cloth. I’m sorry Aeneas but the churches must be punished. I would be less than startled to suppose that the deep seated culture of violence and predation that formed in these organizations fed into the other crimes against children by the church.
The Catholic and Anglican sects were by far the largest operators of the residential schools. Despite the efforts of individuals within the organizations, they are little better than organized crime gangs and should be treated as such. Hamas in Lebanon is looked to by the population for spiritual and practical support, they look after the needy and serve as keepers of the peace. Yet we call them terrorists. We would see them undone. Locking their doors and stripping their assets seems a small price, prosecuting the individuals that enacted these crimes is our duty. These villains operated in our name for decades before the rise of the Nazis and operated for more than thirty years after their fall. They were engaged in the intentional destruction of cultures, languages and spiritual systems. Their method was through violence against children. They still sit in their vain and pompous palaces looking down upon all and sundry, they still seek to conceal their crimes. They do not deserve our respect, our forbearance or legitimacy.
I will be looking for my notes with transcripts of some of the stories I was told. And in the interest of disclosure, my folks pulled me out of the separate school system here in Ontario. I was physically abused by a teacher and a trio of nuns. I was lucky that my family knew where I was and that I had a home to return to. There is no damnation deep enough for these bastards and their temples.
Aeneas: “Further, none of these Churches - as structured today - are capable of the type of racist deeds that you are decrying. To suggest we need to wipe-out Churches and Communions that are far removed in time from these heartless and quite un-Christian acts is radical and extremist.”
Missed this earlier… the Pope of the so-called “One True Church” arrives and is treated with an embarrasing amount of pomp and ceremony by Prez Bush at the White House while the Catholic Church is reeling charges that it knowingly, wilfully covered up sexual abuse of children by its priests for decades (and maybe longer).
Methinks you wrote too quickly.
BC:
“10. Meares Island (Tofino): Kakawis-Christie Catholic school (1898-1974). Buildings incorporated into Kakawis Healing Centre. Body storage room reported in basement, adjacent to burial grounds south of school.”
I knew kids from “Christie”, growing up, back in the 1950s. I heard some of their stories; even now, half a century and more later, I ache for these children. I have no trouble believing this report.
“Kakawis Healing Centre”; what irony!
I was struck by the “news event” where the pope met with five abuse survivors. Imagine that, five whole, no doubt hand picked by the church, abuse survivors amid the thousands upon thousands of people the church abused, and my friends, the news cast went on to say that he not only graced them with his presence but that he prayed with them. Well whoop-de-fricken-do, I wonder how far that goes to helping deal with generations of abuse, lies, denials, and pay offs?
How else would you describe organizations responsible for aiding and abetting people who abused little kids lrC? What other description would you use considering what the people who worked for these organizations did coupled with what those organizations did on behalf of these criminals (can we agree they are criminals?) to shelter them and their actions? Misguided seems a tad light don’t you think?
The church is now simply reaping what it has sown (who says I didn’t pay attention in church ‘eh?), their god warned them, and it might suck to be them but in my opinion it’s well passed time it caught up to them.
Mike,
Like Aeneas, I am also an Anglican. I’ve been aware of the issue of the shame of the residential schools for some time and I agree that justice must be served. The Anglican Church of Canada should accept its share in the responsibility for any wrongdoing, but I would point out that the schools weren’t there just because of the churches, they were there to implement government policies (policies which, unfortunately, weren’t completely unpopular at the time, so this is a shame shared by mainstream Canadian society). In my opinion, the ultimate responsibility should not just end with the churches, and the agency that should say the ultimate “I’m sorry” and contribute reparations is Ottawa.
While I certainly do not wanty to defend the residential school system, as heinous a piece of sadism cloaked in pretty ideals as could be invented, I do have to point out someproblems i have with these reports. the first is that many of these locations are not readily accessible, and there may have been reasons for having burials of bodies in areas on the grounds. With diseases like TB, or during the 1917 influenza outbreak, it would seem as only prudent to dispose of the dead in a timely manner. It does not explain other deaths, but could explain some. In the same vein I wonder about the claims of ‘an electric chair’ in Fort albany. This is a remte village, and I am not sure if it would have had the power necessary to run a electric chair of any power at the time. It is also quite possible that these were legitimate burial sites, that have been forgotten over time.
While I hope an investigation is launched and the allegations proved true or false, please do not be hasty in finding crimes where there are so far unfounded rumors. We should support an independent, professional inquiry into these allegations.
Living near one of the sites, I have also heard rumors of a burial ground. The tales I heard says the site holds the victims of disease that had no families, who were not only residents of the facility but also of the nearby community.
Shmohawk said: “But when stories like this about Aboriginal peoples appear, stories that reflect back upon the reader because it deals with the actions of their leaders (past or present) or their institutions (past or present), I think some kind of psychic self-defense mechanism pops into gear.”
We are the descendants of the Europeans who colonized these continents and we are responsible for finding a meaningful and sincere way to acknowledge, to ask forgiveness and to atone for the crimes that our ancestors perpertrated.
> the first is that many of these locations are not readily accessible, and there may have been reasons for having burials of bodies in areas on the grounds. With diseases like TB, or during the 1917 influenza outbreak, it would seem as only prudent to dispose of the dead in a timely manner.
And many are incredibly easy to access. I only have half-an-hour walk to get to the Kamloops Indian Band school myself. Ask an elder where the graves are, and you’ll get told right away. It’s no secret. It’s just that nobody in the halls of power has been listening.
One of the major problems is that the churches won’t reveal where many more graves are located (or that many are buried on church land, and we aren’t allowed access).
The ones listed above are the tip of the iceburg. We’r not talking about hundreds of graves, nor even thousands. We’re talking tens of thousands over a hundred years. Smallpox and the flu did kill many natives. So many that we don’t know where all the graves are until we build our homes and highways over top of them, but that does not explain the abnormal number of deaths in the schools alone in the years preceding and following those outbreaks.
It’s so incomprehensible, until you listen to the words of people who had witnessed it first hand the terror.
Go watch Unrepentant.
[...] Mass graves of aboringinal children. On Canadian soil. Near former residental schools. Stage Left has the list. [...]
James,
I don’t disagree with your assessment, but I choose to wear my anger about this out where all can see.
I’m curious as to what, exactly, it would take for the MSN and others to believe and pick this up? Sadly, I suspect some citizen actually digging up one of these poor kids on camera….
Here in Eastern Ontario, we had allegations of a child sex ring in Cornwall that to this day generates headlines. None one of those kids was beaten to death.
Here we have allegations of murder with hundreds of victims and the locations of their graves, and nothing. Silence.
I find that shocking and disturbing.
There is another problem. People who may know of the location of these burial sites are getting old and dying off. Some burial sites are being bulldozed or planted over, or are disappearing as trees and undergrowth take over. Something should be done soon, but even some of the survivors still won’t talk about their experiences or refuse to expose old wounds.
Then there’s the question of who is buried in these sites. I have no doubt many of them exist, and there may be more out there. But taking my grandfather’s brother for example, the school has no records of his attending that school. My grandfather was there. Other people were there with them. Yet my grandfather has disappeared from any of the so-called “documented records” since oral history or testimony is still looked down on by the courts — as if the responsible agencies have nothing to hide.
Sometimes, to quote someone but I forget whom, it makes you want to holler.
The government won’t give a proper apology because that is an acknowledgment of guilt and then they will have to pay, make restitution. Our country does this for immigrants - and rightfully so - but blatantly turns its back on its Original People. The First Nation to have lived on our soil. Nations that helped settlers adapt to a new world. Nations that have for the most part been peaceful in what we now call Canada.
An apology and even restitution isn’t enough. International efforts are still made to track down and punish perpetrators of the Jewish holocaust which was committed roughly 65 years ago. Few Canadians would argue that those who were involved in the Jewish genocide are guilty of crimes and should be punished.
Those involved with murdering aboriginal children must be tracked down and charged for murder as well. How can we not even consider hunting down the vicious bastards? Many are still alive, enjoying their children and grandchildren while the families of those they murdered are further injured as even their pain and loss is trivialized by treating the mass murder of their kin as, well, just an exaggeration of ancient history, a done-deal, so let’s all just get on with life and quit living in the past.
Every time - every damn time we shrug our shoulders at such tragedy, we give the nod for future abuse. And every time we trivialize the abominations done to First Nations, we allow and even encourage our government to sideline them, shove them to the end of the line, fail to include them in our budgets and plans.
Thanks, stageleft. This latest is so devastating that we really can’t afford to turn away because we find it too hard to deal with. That will surely dehumanize us.
Whooee! Okay, I’m disgusted and repulsed by these revelations. I’ve been at the Mohawk Chapel in Brantford and last year, I was in Alert Bay at the big First Nations heritage centre (I can’t remember the name of it right now and I’m too lazy to go lookin’).
What’s got me all confuddled is the lack of press this issue is getting. The press release was issued at a public press conference in Vancouver on April 10th. That was last Thursday. A Google web search today for “mass graves” +Canada has this very Stageleft post as the top result with my own nod to this post coming in at #3. There is only one MSM result in the top 10: an Edmondton Sun piece from April 11. A Google News search is not turning up much MSM interest, either.
Why is that?
The simplest answer is that a cover-up or downplaying of the horrendous facts is taking place. Certainly, there’s plenty of precedent for downplaying and hushing up abuses carried out against First Nations people. But simple answers aren’t always the right answers. Even with a history of cover-ups and downplaying, the exposure of 28 mass grave sites and the possibility that hundreds or even thousands of children died due to abuse or neglect is a huge news item. Huge.
In my searching for MSM follow-ups to the April 10th press release, I came across a couple related items mentioning Kevin Annett and FRD. There was aG&M piece (behind $$ wall) but republished in the Sault Star. This was from about 10 days before the April 10th press release. It looks like it relates to the same revelations. The articles states that no hard evidence of any mass graves has actually been found.
Okay, I’m willing to believe that these mass graves exist. The anecdotal evidence and reports are too ubiquitous to deny. However (dang howevers), I think the MSM might be alot more willing to run with this story if there was some forensic evidence. That’s what Annett said was the next step. I’m wondering why they didn’t get at least some hard forensic evidence from at least one of the 28 sites before going public. Obviously, many of the sites are going to be hard to dig up but some minor digging in at least one spot with cooperative owners would seem to be possible.
I want to see a lot more light shed on this whole thing. Who’s going to shed that light? These FRD folks have pointed the authorities in the direction of a possible crime scene but they are also on record as worrying that the RCMP will remove the remains in a further attempt at covering up. If these crime scenes exist all across the country, it seems like the RCMP would be the ones to investigate. Maybe we need Interpol?
On my blog, I called this the most important and disturbing news in Canada today. I will do my bloggin’ best to keep it alive, as I know SL et al and many of the other blogger/commenters will do. We need to uncover as much as we possibly can and we need to hold the badasses accountable, even if it was 40 or 50 years ago.
JB
stageleft- thank you for this post.
I have passed on the page to several of my colleagues and one is currently in the process of contacting our local paper to ask/encourage some coverage of this.
We are hoping to get a copy of Unrepentant for our Native Studies program.
Shmohawk, is it “Makes me want to holler” from Marvin Gayes’ song Inner City Blues?
Anyway,
Reparations and justice.
For years I had felt apathy, but lately that apathy was revealed as merely skin grown over a sore. Rip it off, and the anger spills out.
It’s a challenge to turn that apathy into anger, and then into hope, but that’s what’s got to happen.
Kevin Annett who is one of the main people leading the charge on this has suffered untold numbers of hardships, attacks on his character, and threats over the years he has worked to expose this. If you review his Hidden From History website, and check out the chronology of events that he has up, which documents the abuse he has suffered for trying to expose this issue, you will be shocked.
In my view the attacks,threats and such to try and stop him from this work is a very serious matter indeed. He has not relented despite all that has occured to him… This has been his life’s work for well over a decade.
He needs people to be aware of what has happened to him, in order to prevent more attacks, threats and such from occuring.
Here’s some good primers
http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.org/mort_rate_index.html
Documents from Indian Affairs Officials that show extremely high mortality rates in the schools..
AND
http://canadiangenocide.nativeweb.org/chronology_of_attacks.html#attacks
What has happened to this man, for simply trying to expose the truth is indeed horrifying.
I
Weird.. I didn’t use to be moderated, but now I am. Did I do something wrong?
>How else would you describe organizations responsible for aiding and abetting people who abused little kids lrC?
“Racist” and “criminal” both fit nicely; it’s “rational” Mike’s sweeping tarbrush which is out of place. What fraction of church members were actually involved? And who paid the operating costs?
I’d like to see some answers: firstly, some identification of who is in the unmarked graves; secondly, some analysis of how they came to be there. Forensic sciences are sufficiently advanced to resolve both question, particularly the latter.
I doubt it’s personal, MW. I think SL and the Bunkerettes are on stages across Canada doing their latest tour. CDs and T-shirts on sale at the door. I refuse to contemplate the groupies. (ee-yew! i just did. is there javex for the mind?)
At least, I think that’s it. Note the change below the “Post My Comment” button.
Call me Pollyanna (it won’t be the first time) but I would like to believe that a small part of the reason this hasn’t been broadcast from the rooftops is that the allegations need to be investigated.
Here in Edmonton, the news was published the day of the announcement, and (sadly) buggar all since. However, the article DID say “Annett said the group received information that the Mounties are planning to dig up the grave sites and remove the remains. ”
One hopes that proper determination of cause of death (where possible) occurs. I, for one, will be watching to see what happens.
I agree with Shmohawk: “But when stories like this about Aboriginal peoples appear…”
I helped a friend (Aboriginal) get out of an abusive foster family situation when in grade school (with my parents’ involvement obviously, as in the 60s, kids didn’t have a lot of say in much of anything in the legal world). I remember my mother saying “they have special schools for ‘them’ and maybe it would be better for her to go to one of them” and she meant it in a positive way. She bought into the story being fed by the government of the day (and years prior) and had no ill will toward the child in question.
My mother is HORRIFIED with the stories of abuse, neglect and genocide and I mean her no disrespect, but I don’t think she can bring herself to fully comprehend that friends and family went off to fight against Germany in WWII when at the same time, similar sh*t was happening here. Not on the same scale (small grace), but surely this is an instance where the term “one is too many” is appropriate?
And keep in mind (no, this isn’t a defense, just a point) that up until what, the 80s? the term “child abuse” meant what? Was it even against the law? I helped a different friend (there seems to be a pattern here) get placed in a foster home to escape an abusive step-dad, and I will never forget the cop telling my parents that until Social Services got involved and validated her story (the ‘running away’ which was the legal reality of her staying with us over the weekend), if her parents showed up and demanded her return, we had to hand her over or my parents could be charged with kidnapping.
That would have been 1971/72.
We still had “the strap” in school until… I dunno, again 71/72/73? Corporal punishment, whether dealt by parents or school, was not only legal, it was accepted. The old “spare the rod” routine.
Tempting though it is, I don’t think it’s fair or appropriate to try and apply today’s standards to what occurred decades ago, as things have changed. That doesn’t mean I’m supporting what happened in the schools, because I do not. However, just as it’s inappropriate to refer to a Muslim school in Indonesia in the 60s or early 70s as a “madrassa” with all the baggage attached to that term today, it’s inappropriate to judge the well-meaning (but totally uninformed) Canadian public of the 60s and 70s (and earlier) based on what we now know.
Knowledge is a powerful tool, and much more accessible to Jane & Joe Q. Public today than it was even a decade ago, let alone 4 or 5 or 10.
I am heartened to see that so many people here understand the nature of the problem. If you want to be put on the mailing list for the Friends of the Disappeared Children for future actions, email hiddenfromhistory@yahoo.com
The film “Unrepentant” is here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6637396204037343133&q=Unrepentant&ei=-AUKSK2zHoXg-wGA7PiqBA
There’s Facebook group for this issue.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11679618549&ref=nf
Granny, thanks for the link to that video.
I’m speechless.
I’d like to see some answers: firstly, some identification of who is in the unmarked graves; secondly, some analysis of how they came to be there. Forensic sciences are sufficiently advanced to resolve both question, particularly the latter.
So would I. And I’m not spending an inordinate amount of time saying that and only that. But then, I can read.
Candace: “Call me Pollyanna (it won’t be the first time) but I would like to believe that a small part of the reason this hasn’t been broadcast from the rooftops is that the allegations need to be investigated.”
I submit though that these allegations and stories have been around for almost as long as the schools were operating. I remember hearing a former national reporter about his time in BC. Not sure if this was before or after his stint in SAfrica.
He heard stories, rumours, whispers about these schools and the abuses. He was hobnobbing with society’s elite at the time, top cops, top politicians, bureaucrats, business and church leaders. He regretted believing THEM and not the Indians. But this was hindsight.
This happened 30 or so years ago. There were a few stories in newspapers and magazines but people glossed over these very few published stories. There were others (reporters too) who knew - and did or said nothing even earlier, and ever since. At least, this guy admitted his decision, and shame. Most trot out the “can’t prove” or “old history” excuses to avoid looking.
So there’s always been lots of time to investigate. The top cops knew back then, and did nothing as well. Indian Affairs knew, and did covered up. Church officials knew, and covered up. The tactic since has been to deny, deny, avoid, until the survivors die off. I think they believe this can and will work - and they’re probably right. Most Canadians, I believe, don’t want to know - and they count on this.
That church and graveyard in the opening part of the film where OH Canada is being sung… that is where my mother is burried. She was a victim of the Port Alberni School. She took her life in 1975 after 3 earlier unsuccesful attempts. She was only 21.
Where the hell are our politicians on this? I just searched Hansard for last week and there’s not a peep on this revelation. Nor have any of the parties said anything about it on their websites. I think it’s time to ask the NDP’s Aboriginal Affairs critic, Jean Crowder, why she’s biting her tongue.
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A OA6
Tel: 613-943-2180
crowdj@parl.gc.ca
[...] Wow! Location of Mass Graves of Residential School Children Revealed; Independent Tribunal Established [...]
I watched the video, Unrepentant, this morning. I’ll add my voice to those recommending it. It’s a tough thing to take in and the video’s 1 hr 48 min. I gotta commend that poor Annett. He’s keepin’ his chin up and he figgers he’s got the bad guys on the ropes.
The film goes a long way toward explaining why this issue isn’t front page news. Suppression of these revelations has been successfully happening for decades. Much of that suppression has been in the most recent decade and not back in historical times.
JB
Shmohawk: “I submit though that these allegations and stories have been around for almost as long as the schools were operating. ”
Possibly, but were they reported? Allegations and stories need to be told or the general public doesn’t know. From discussions going on at Saskboy’s post on the subject, things WERE being done. Enough? Possibly. And possibly (perhaps probably) not.
As well, time changes circumstances. The Charles Camsell Hospital has been closed & boarded up, although there are rumors that someone has purchased it with the intent to turn it into condos. I’m thinking that they will want allegations of a cemetary, mass or otherwise, investigated prior to trying to sell any condos or more likely, prior to investing a dime in renos.
Note that the link is from 2006 - I’ve recently driven past the site and see minimal evidence of any major work being done.
Candace: Possibly, but were they reported?”
Yes. That’s what I wrote. There were reports but they went nowhere. Even very experienced and good reporters decided to ignore the story then, as now. So did cops and politicians. Was it headline, top of page stuff? Not from what I’ve seen. Stories were usually buried. Some were features in the old Maclean’s or the Canadian Magazine, or similar weekend or monthlies. But, like I said, the story dropped like a stone right off the radar screens because no one followed up.
I notice some poster are talking about Kevin Annett & his film ‘Unrepentant’.One thing people should be aware off there is some controversy surround Mr Annett.Some native people distrust Annett and feel he is using the issue of Residential schools for his own ends…..
This does not lessen the crimes nor does it cast doubt on the crimes committed by settler society,particularly in regards to residential schools.
Just be careful and research Mr Annett a bit before going off half cocked.
The story does not end with nor begins with Mr Annett or his film,despite what Mr Annett might think.Mr Annett would love nothing better than to have his film and himself for that matter picked up by schools universities etc,just another white guy supposedly speaking for First Nations peoples.
Talk to First Nations peoples,get to know them,visit their communities,read their accounts,their stories….
MW said…”Kevin Annett who is one of the main people leading the charge on this has suffered untold numbers of hardships, attacks on his character, and threats over the years he has worked to expose this”….
Sorry MW but Mr Annett is not the victim here.Matter of fact this is part of the problem,the story seems to be morphing into one,more about Mr Annett and his supposed difficulties….
I did some research on some of the people who were attacking Annett a few years back. The main proponent was a marxist professor in the U.S. The other people who have attacked Annett have been mostly Indian Act government officials. In my view that adds to his credibility - not lessens it.
[...] now is the fact that you self-centred bigots just now learned of this crime from a press release. Every single one of you should be ashamed of yourselves for not having known this long [...]
May I respectfully suggest we resist the urge to get into a credibility argument (marginally relevant, but also a favourite way of getting away from the issue at hand), and examine the merits of the evidence? I literally have not had time to review the film or the backup documentation, but will.
I just wanted to point out that there are a number of Aboriginal people who have participated in this work. These people were eyewitnesses and victims of the abuse that occured. You can hear them speak for themselves on the film
It’s more than a little obnoxious in my view to try and claim that these particular people must have been duped by Annett or anybody else. It’s also pretty damning that somebody considers the words of Phil Fontaine and the AFN, or the Indian Act Chiefs as more credible than the words of the people who appear in the film.
But that’s just the typical way that Aboriginal people are “handled” by the MSM, the Politicians and the Indian Act industry. Dissent is only considered legitimate if it’s sanctioned by the highly controlled and bought and paid for AFN. If some Indians get uppity - like those who appear in the film here — all the government needs to do is drag out one of their “legitimate” spokespeople to shut them down.
If there are uppity Aboriginals asking questions about their Band’s finances and the role of the DIA in colluding with corrupt Indian Act Governments, all they (The government de jure) need to do is drag out Phil Fontaine to say “Corruption… There’s no corruption in Band governments. FN affairs are completely and totally above board!”
I did a bit of digging on the Charles Camsell hospital at my blog. From reports on the St. Albert location, it sounds like children in St. Albert were forced to dig graves (in St. Albert) to bury bodies from the Camsell, so there are conflicting reports out there as to where graves from the Camsell may actually be.
Thanks so much for posting this. Here’s the video of our press conference in Toronto (to which only Turtle Island News came) announcing the locations of the mass graves:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7294053672161695977
So Candace seems to be on to something…she is checking out things in her area. Could I ask people who read this to do the same. Look at the list and dig locally - take pictures, ask people you know about the allegations find any kind of information you can to corroborate (or disprove if that is where the evidence points) the various allegations in the list. Post the information, pictures, video or audio to the facebook group.
If the media and the state won’t investigate and expose the truth, screw ‘em, we’ll do it ourselves. Perhaps if ordinary people dig enough and make enough noise, something will be done. I don’t think we should sit back and expect the institutions who were involved in this in the first place - the Canadian government agencies and the churches and the state - to fairly or honestly investigate. That could explain why these stories have been known for so long in selected parts of Canada and within the native community, but not in the Canadian populace at large.
lrC,
I think I made it very clear I was speaking from anger. I also think we agree that this needs to be investigated. Candace has hit on the problem, the catch 22 that has been keeping this below the radar for so long - these allegations won’t be broadcast until there is an investigation, but there won’t be an investigation until the allegations are broadcast and public opinion and outrage are brought to bear. So lets do something to cajole, embarras and force an investigation.
And lets support the independent investigation anyway we can.
I’d hate to be the young radical (again) - but why don’t we ensure this becomes a major theme on May 29th. Fontaine may not have the balls to go through with it, but there’s not reason the rest of us can’t.
I recently found a new employer, and I feel a newfound sense of freedom because my old employer was one that would have frowned on me taking a more active role in something like this - especially if it garnered media attention and involved undiplomatic language.
Anyways, point is I feel like doing something, anything to try and get this in the national spotlight. And with May 29th approaching fast, I would like to do my part. Any takers?
BitTorrent link for ‘Unrepentant’ - Kevin Annett and Canada’s Genocide (2006) Xvid Mp3 avi
http://www.mininova.org/tor/604235
Its obvious what needs to be done- somebody get a shovel and dig.
[...] now is the fact that you self-centred bigots just now learned of this crime from a press release. Every single one of you should be ashamed of yourselves for not having known this long [...]