Warning: The following story contains details of boarding schools that may be disturbing. The Indian boarding school survivor and family crisis hotline in Canada is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

An Aboriginal community in western Canada found 182 unmarked graves near a boarding school for Aboriginal children. This is the latest discovery in recent weeks.

The Lower Kootenay Band said on Wednesday that experts used ground-penetrating radar to survey and map at St Eugene’s Mission School near Cranbrook, British Columbia, and found Aboriginal children believed to be 7-15 years old. Remains.

This institution was forced to participate in order to integrate Aboriginal children into Canadian society. The institution was run by the Catholic Church and operated from 1890 to 1970. according to Go to the History and Dialogue Center of Indian Boarding School.

The band said in a statement that the search for the venue began last year and the children are believed to be members of the Ktunaxa ethnic band, which includes Lower Kootenay and other neighboring indigenous communities.

“You can never be fully prepared for something like this,” said Jason Louise, the lead of the Lower Courtney Band, because Report Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News.

In recent weeks, hundreds of unmarked graves have been found in at least three boarding schools in Canada, which has brought the Aboriginal communities that have been aware of institutional deaths for decades back into grief and pain.

The boarding school system in Canada operated from the late 1800s to the 1990s. This is part of a broader colonial project aimed at taking over the aboriginal lands and forcibly assimilating the aboriginals, Metis and Inuit children. Various churches, including the most famous Roman Catholic Church, have opened at least 139 boarding schools in Canada, and thousands of Aboriginal children are believed to have died while attending these institutions.

At the end of last month, Remains of 215 indigenous children As many as 751 unmarked graves were found at Kamloops Indian Boarding School in British Columbia Find Last week at Marieval Indian boarding school in Saskatchewan.

Chief Jennifer Bone of Dakota, Sioux Valley, Central Manitoba, also Say This month, the community identified 104 potential graves in the three cemeteries of Brandon Boarding School.

These findings have led the federal government and the Catholic Church to increasingly call for accountability.

The indigenous leaders are Ask Pope Francis to apologize And require the church to publish all records related to the organization.They also called for adequate financial support to help fund searches in boarding schools, criminal charges against anyone found responsible for criminal acts, and Thorough investigation Coming soon.

There are also 182 unmarked graves.
Now is the time to conduct a coherent and independent investigation to gather evidence for these crimes.
Now is the time for the FBI and the church to produce documents.
It’s time to put resources on the desktop to ensure that all sites are thoroughly investigated.

-Charlie Angus New Democratic Party (@CharlieAngusNDP) June 30, 2021

Canadian opposition New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said on Wednesday that “it’s time to conduct a coherent and independent investigation to collect evidence of these crimes”.

At the same time, aboriginal people across Canada have felt the pain of the latest discovery.

“My family went there,” said Earl Einarson, a member of the Ktunaxa First Nations. Post Follow the boarding school near Cranbrook on Twitter. “The shadow of that place still haunts our family. And now lying 182 in the same shadow, he has never escaped its dark shadow.”

According to the History and Dialogue Center of Indian Boarding Schools, “an Indian agent reported in 1935 that he had to force his parents to send their children to St. Eugene’s Missionary School due to insufficient food, overwork, and illness.”

“Despite the changes in the principal, the school attendance rate and running away from home problems have persisted. There have also been repeated outbreaks of influenza, mumps, measles, chickenpox and tuberculosis,” the center Say.

Many indigenous community members also have Ask about the celebration of Canada Day -July 1st is a national holiday-due to the discovery of unmarked tombs, it has been cancelled.

“As more and more children who have not returned from boarding schools are discovered, I think this is not the time to celebrate Canada,” said Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN)’s acting chief, Walter Naveau. Representing dozens of aboriginal people in northern Ontario.

“I heard people say that Canada is the greatest country, but many people choose not to recognize the true history of this country and its indigenous people and the heritage that continues to this day,” Navo said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Canada has gotten rid of the dark days of boarding schools, but our people have not. Many people are still in grief, many people cannot grieve until they know their loved ones-those who were taken away but never returned home. Child-what happened.”