Canadian authorities have found the remains of
215 children
, some of them as young as 3 years old, buried in the place where the largest boarding school for indigenous minors in Canada was located.
At the Kamloops Institution, in the province of British Columbia, children from all over the country were detained after
being separated from their families
, as part of a program to assimilate them into Canadian society.
Rosanne Casimir, head of the Tk'emlups te Secwépemc tribe, said in a statement that the remains were confirmed last weekend with the help of ground-penetrating radar.
"These last few days have been very, very heartfelt and very hard, hard for our community," Casimir said Friday.
The reasons for the deaths and when they date are unknown.
More remains may be found because there are still areas to explore on the school grounds
, Casimir said Friday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured through a message on Twitter that the latest discovery "is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter in the history of our country."
In a previous statement, Casimir called the discovery an "unthinkable loss that was discussed but never documented, at the Kamloops Boarding School for Indigenous People."
The boarding school was once the largest school of its kind in Canada.
Between 1883 and 1996, more than 150,000 indigenous children were separated from their families and forced to attend some of the 139 state-funded Christian schools.
The minors were forced to convert to Christianity and were not allowed to speak their native languages.
Many suffered physical punishment, verbal abuse, and were victims of racism and sexual violence.
Up to 6,000 are believed to have died.
The Canadian government apologized in Parliament in 2008 and admitted that physical and sexual abuse in schools was rampant.
Many students recall being beaten for speaking their native language.
They also lost contact with their parents and their customs.
Current indigenous leaders have cited this legacy of abuse and isolation as the root cause of the epidemic rates of alcoholism and drug addiction on their reservations.
A report more than five years ago from a Truth and Reconciliation Commission said that at least 3,200 children died amid abuse and neglect.
According to this, there were at least 51 deaths at the Kamloops school alone between 1915 and 1963.
"This really brings up the issue of interneeships and the wounds of this legacy of genocide towards indigenous peoples," Terry Teegee, regional head of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said Friday.
The Kamloops school operated between 1890 and 1969, when the federal government took over the operations of the Catholic Church and operated it as a day school until it closed in 1978.
Casimir said the deaths are believed to be undocumented, although a local museum archivist is working with the Royal British Columbia Museum to see if any records of the deaths can be found.
"Given the size of the school, with up to 500 students enrolled and attending at any one time, we understand that this confirmed loss affects First Nations communities throughout British Columbia and beyond," Casimir said in the initial statement issued. late on Thursday.
Access to the latest technology allows for a real count of missing children and hopefully brings some peace and closure to those lost lives, he said in the statement.
It is expected that a more detailed report on what happened in Kamloops will be published in mid-June and that the final destination of the remains will be announced in these days.
With information from AP and El País.