An indigenous nation in Canada says it has found 751 unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Saskatchewan. The Cowessess First Nation said the discovery was “the most significantly substantial to date in Canada”.
It comes weeks after the remains of 215 children were found at a similar residential school in British Columbia. “This is not a mass grave site. These are unmarked graves,” said Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme. The Marieval Indian Residential School was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1899 to 1997 in the area where Cowessess is now located in southeastern Saskatchewan. It is not yet clear if all of the remains are linked to the school. It was one of more than 130 compulsory boarding schools funded by the Canadian government and run by religious authorities during the 19th and 20th Centuries with the aim of assimilating indigenous youth.
An estimated 6,000 children died while attending these schools, due in large part to the squalid health conditions inside. Students were often housed in poorly built, poorly heated, and unsanitary facilities.
