A mass grave with the remains of 215 children has been discovered in Canada at a former indigenous school, which was built to assimilate indigenous people.
Euronews.com writes that the discovery of the bones near the school of Kamloops became possible after the examination of the site with penetrating radar.
“We had information about our community and verified it. As far as we know, these missing children are undocumented deaths“, Said Rosanne Casimir, head of the Tk’emlúps community.
Many of the bones found belong to children up to 3 years old, while the causes and time of their death have not been learned.
“At the moment we have more questions than answers“, Added Casimir.
The children were students at Kamloops School in British Columbia which closed in 1978.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it was one “Painful memory” of a shameful chapter in the history of our country”.
The site is working with museum specialists and doctors to determine the causes and timing of when the children died.
Rosanne Casimir, community head in the town of Kamloops, said the preliminary discovery represented a major loss that was never documented by school administrators.
Residential schools in Canada were forced to sleep and were run by government and religious authorities during the 19th and 20th centuries with the aim of forcibly assimilating indigenous youth.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was built by the Roman Catholic Church in 1890, the school had about 500 students when enrollment peaked in the 1950s.
