# Many hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children discovered at Canadian residential schools **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2021, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674 "2021-06-05T14:04:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/303 "2022-04-01T23:38:33Z")
> **[Pope Francis apologizes to Indigenous delegation for residential school abuse...](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-pope-francis-apologizes-to-indigenous-delegation-for-deplorable/)** > > Francis made the apology and vowed to visit Canada during an audience with hundreds of members of the Métis, Inuit and First Nations communities ——— The Pope has apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in the tragedy of residential schools – a move that residential school survivors have been awaiting for decades. “I ask for God’s forgiveness and I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry, and I join my brothers, the Canadian bishops, in asking your pardon clearly,” Pope Francis told Indigenous delegates assembled at the Vatican on Friday. “The content of the faith cannot be transmitted in a way contrary to faith itself.” “I also feel shame and I’m saying it now … for the role that the number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had and all these things that wounded you [and] the abuse you suffered, and in the lack of respect shown for your identity and culture.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2022, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/304 "2022-04-01T23:57:33Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > “I also feel shame and I’m saying it now … for the role that the number of Catholics, particularly those with educational responsibilities, have had and all these things that wounded you [and] the abuse you suffered, and in the lack of respect shown for your identity and culture.” Well, doesn’t that summarize the whole history of the Church at least since Charlemagne’s “conversion” of the Saxons? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/305 "2023-09-03T05:36:44Z")
> **[No evidence of human remains found beneath church at Pine Creek Residential...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/pine-creek-residential-school-no-evidence-human-remains-1.6941441)** > > No evidence of human remains has been found during the excavation of a Catholic church basement on the site of a former Manitoba residential school. Interesting theory from a conservative website: > But it does mean that, to this day, no human remains have been found at any former residential school in Canada. > > Media in Canada first [reported](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/canada-residential-schools-unmarked-graves-indigenous-children-60-minutes-2023-02-12/) on mass graves at residential schools in May 2021. Archeologists detected what they believed to be 200 unmarked graves at an old school in Kamloops, British Columbia. > > **To this date, no excavations of that site has occurred.** Local elders have cited intergenerational trauma as the reason for leaving potential proof of a genocide buried. > > **The 200 “unmarked graves” in Kamloops were identified by the same technology that identified the 14 in Manitoba, which we now know turned out to be nothing more than a pile of rocks underground.** > **[BREAKING: Residential School 'Mass Grave' turned out to be underground rocks,...](https://thecountersignal.com/breaking-residential-school-mass-grave-turned-out-be-be-underground-rocks-no-bodies-found/)** > > The excavation of a Catholic church basement on the grounds of a former Manitoba residential school has yielded no evidence of human remains. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/306 "2023-09-03T20:13:35Z")
> [@](#): > > … to this day, no human remains have been found at any former residential school in Canada. This is a bit hard to accept on the word of one “conservative website”. It’s been over 2 years since the story broke, with some saying the total of unmarked graves might run to multiple thousands. I haven’t found much by Googling, but surely the Canadian government has investigated this and has advanced the state of understanding beyond mere speculation. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2023, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/307 "2023-09-03T21:27:29Z")
I had assumed that there had been exhumations, but it looks like not only have there not, but there have been calls to outlaw “denialism” wanting proof that the “suspected” graves are actually graves. > **[Residential school denialists tried to dig up suspected unmarked graves in...](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/denialists-tried-to-access-unmarked-gravesite-tkemlups-report-1.6879980)** > > Residential school deniers tried to dig up suspected unmarked grave sites at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, not believing a May 2021 announcement that at as many as 215 Indigenous children had been buried there, according to a... And there have been sites where excavations were done, and they found bupkis. > **[MALCOLM: True North’s reporting on the “unmarked graves” narrative has been...](https://tnc.news/2023/08/30/malcolm-unmarked-graves-narrative/)** > > "True North was the first media outlet in the world to question the “unmarked graves” narrative. Not only does our initial reporting still stand, we have been vindicated." ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/308 "2023-09-04T00:34:28Z")
Aren’t there still living witnesses to the disappearance of children? ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/309 "2023-09-04T02:10:30Z")
and no one mentions that US did same thing to Native Americans? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/310 "2023-09-04T02:22:07Z")
Not in this particular thread about Indigenous children in Canadian residential schools, but it sounds like a good idea on its own. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/311 "2023-09-04T02:45:25Z")
Not every thread has to have references to the US to have meaning. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/312 "2023-09-04T02:53:02Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > and no one mentions that US did same thing to Native Americans? I’ve seen it mentioned a number of places. I don’t know why you seem to think I should have specifically mentioned it in the post you replied to. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2023, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/313 "2023-09-04T07:55:20Z")
Unsurprisingly, the indigenous people of Canada do not find “But the US treated its indigenous people just as badly” a compelling defense of the crimes the government of Canada committed against them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674.md?page=15)