# Many hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children discovered at Canadian residential schools

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674>\
**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")\
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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/many-hundreds-of-unmarked-graves-of-indigenous-children-discovered-at-canadian-residential-schools/943674/198 "2021-06-14T21:33:55Z")

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> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> I do not buy the term “cultural genocide”.

This doesn’t make any sense.

You’ve been complaining that the residential school system was not genocide because it did not constitute an attempt to physically exterminate a population. Alright, fine; that’s semantic quibbling but fair enough. Then there exists a term for that; “cultural genocide.”

But now you’re saying you… don’t buy that? You don’t buy a different term to describe the other phenomenon? Uhhhh, why? What’s wrong with it? If you object to the the fact it’s a compound term, are you not aware of how English works?

Would it make you happier if we just invented a new word? Until then, can we just use the terms everyone’s been using for 70-od years so we can get back to a discussion of the real issues?

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