“Residential School Mass Grave Mania”

A recent article appeared in the Western Standard admonishing conservatives for using the term “hoax” when referring to the Kamloops claim — namely the MAY 27, 2021 claim — that the remains of 215 former students had been discovered on the grounds of the local residential school.

The author of the article noted that many former residential school students might be offended by the use of the term. I agree with him that innocent people should not be unnecessarily hurt by writers trying to make a point. Everyone agrees that many people were hurt by their residential school experiences. That is no hoax.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” is the opening line of Charles Dickens’ famous historical novel A Tale of Two Cities, a book that came instantly to mind after reading two June 19, House of Parliament Question Period notes prepared for Gary Anandasangaree, Canada’s Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.

These talking points are called Combatting Residential School Denialism, the other Indian Residential School Sites – Unmarked Burials.

Over the last several years a new and unsavoury sub-species of Canadian has been named by some of our elites: the “denier”. A detailed example of this charge comes from Stephanie Scott, Executive Director for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, who recently wrote:

“Sadly…we see increased ugliness from those who deny our truths, experiences and oral histories as reality. Deniers will write their fringe blogs and substacks and leave their foul [emphasis added] comments on social media challenging the documented experiences of Indigenous People, particularly residential school Survivors…They will say: ‘It didn’t happen,’ ‘It wasn’t that bad,’ ‘Some good came out of residential schools,’ or the most repugnant, ‘Children never died in those institutions.’”

The City of Calgary has erected an art exhibition at Prince’s Island Park perpetuating a false claim that the remains of hundreds of indigenous children were found at residential schools.

The false claims that bodies were found has been perpetuated by the federal government as recently as last month.

OTTAWA – The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs criticized the federal government for reducing funds to search the grounds of former residential schools, saying in a statement they are profoundly disappointed and outraged.

Communities could previously receive up to $3 million per year through the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund, but funding will now be capped at $500,000.

“The decision to cut back substantial funding for this critical initiative is not only disheartening but also disrespectful to the survivors and families affected by the residential school system,” said deputy grand chief Betsy Kennedy in a statement.

Funding cut for residential school searches ‘reflects a troubling denialism,’ says chief

Officials with Indigenous Services Canada told organizations and community leaders responsible for searches for missing children and unmarked burials at residential school sites Thursday their funding is being capped at $500,000 per year.

That cap is substantially less than previous operating budgets and much less than what organizations estimate is required to continue the work.

David Monias, chief of Pimicikamak Cree Nation in Manitoba, was on the Zoom call.

“Anomaly” was a word many people had never heard of before it was applied by ground penetrating radar (GPR) specialists to the results of their work looking for the remains of indigenous children said to have never made it home from their Indian Residential Schools.

Since mid-2021, with an announcement heard around the world from the Kamloops Indian Reserve about the burials of students in unmarked graves who attended its former Aboriginal residential school, the term has gained widespread usage as indigenous leaders and activists have routinely converted GPR “anomalies” to the actual “discovery” of the “remains” of hundreds of Indigenous children buried in unmarked graves near their former Indian Residential Schools.

While I fully support Brian Giesbrecht’s condemnation of CBC coverage of the “unmarked graves” issue, it is important to recognize that the Kamloops band remains firmly committed to its claim the anomalies represent “unmarked burials.”

The Catholic Register (June 27th) quotes Chief Rosanne Casimer: “Our investigators’ findings to date are consistent with the presence of unmarked burials.”

On June 21, the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, legally known as the Kamloops Indian Band, finally released the full text of a sacred covenant that was signed on March 31, Easter Sunday, with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver and the Diocese of Kamloops.

The original April 1 press release claimed “The Covenant … reflects our mutual acknowledgment of past wrongs, particularly the Catholic Church’s role in the Residential School System, and a shared commitment to truth, reconciliation, and the future.”

Northern Manitoba First Nation reports 187 anomalies found at or near site of former residential school

A First Nation community in northern Manitoba says ground-penetrating radar has found 150 anomalies at the site of a former residential school, including what are believed to be 59 unmarked graves at a nearby cemetery.

The chief of Pimicikamak Cree Nation also says 37 anomalies have been found off-site, more than a kilometre away from St. Joseph’s Residential School.

The anomalies — places where the ground has been disturbed — were found at depths of between one and two metres, Chief David Monias said Wednesday.

The Canadian government has launched a new interactive online map pinpointing the location of residential schools, and experts say it will help in the search for unmarked or forgotten graves of children forced to go to the institutions.

Many residential school buildings have been torn down, paved or built over since the first one opened in Canada in the 1830s and the last one closed in the mid-1990s.

The Indian Residential Schools Interactive Map will help searchers get accurate locations of former buildings.

With the focus on colonial oppression as an evil in contemporary society, people who are not aware of history tend to imagine that life was like the Garden of Eden in North America, before those nasty white Europeans arrived.

No. As Hobbes wrote: “Life in the state of nature is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”

And it was cruel — especially if you were an Indigenous orphan or disabled.