View of unmarked graves at a former Catholic Indian residential school in Saskatchewan, Canada, in June 2021. Amru Salahuddien (Getty Images)
Authorities of the George-Gordon reserve, in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, announced the discovery of 14 unmarked graves on the grounds of the former boarding school for indigenous children of this community.
This is the seventh such discovery since last May in these centers created to forcibly assimilate native minors.
The first opened its doors in 1883;
the last one, precisely that of George-Gordon, closed in 1996.
Byron Bitternose, head of the reserve (located about 120 kilometers north of Regina, the provincial capital), reported at a press conference this Wednesday that the searches - by means of ground-penetrating radar - found the graves on land that he occupied the boarding school, but that other work is required to establish the ages of the human remains.
"It's a sad day for us, although I think we had to come this far, and it's just the beginning," said Bitternose.
"I hope one day we can tell the whole story to our children," he added.
The searches were concentrated in areas pointed out by former students of the boarding school.
Bitternose said that her community will require financial support to continue the work, as they believe there are more hidden graves.
“We are talking about more than 100 years of history in this place, so there is a lot of work and areas to review,” said Sarah Longman, a member of the group of reserve authorities.
Marc Miller, federal minister for Crown relations with indigenous groups, said his government will continue to support the George-Gordon reservation in these searches.
He also announced that Ottawa is providing financial support for investigations at the former Shubenacadie center in Nova Scotia.
The network of Canadian boarding schools for indigenous children was made up of 139 centers.
Its financing was carried out by the federal government, while its administration was in the hands of religious congregations (mostly Catholic).
Some 150,000 native minors passed through these institutions.
In 2019, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission established that 4,134 children died in these centers.
However, some experts estimate that there were more than 6,000.
George-Gordon Boarding School for Boys began operations in 1888. It was managed by the Anglican Church of Canada until 1946, when its administration passed to the federal government.
It closed its doors in 1996;
the main building was demolished that same year.
In less than 12 months, more than 1,400 graves have been found in Canada, all on the grounds of seven of these ancient institutions located in the provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
On April 1, Pope Francis apologized for the Catholic Church's role in Canadian boarding schools.
Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church of Canada leaders had done the same in the 1990s.
“I feel shame and pain for the role that some Catholics, in particular those with educational responsibilities, have had in all these things that have hurt you, the abuses that you have suffered and the lack of respect shown towards your identity, your culture and including their spiritual values”, declared the Pontiff before a delegation of indigenous authorities from Canada that traveled to Rome.
“For the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask God for forgiveness and I want to tell them with all my heart that I am very sorry.
And I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking their forgiveness," Francis added.
On April 15, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that the pope will visit the country at the end of July.
The itinerary that he will have has not yet been defined, although the meetings with the indigenous groups will be the fundamental objective of the trip.
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