Author of report on residential school cemeteries surprised finds didn't happen earlier

Dr. Scott Hamilton, author of "Where are the Children buried?" is surprised attempts weren't made sooner to find residential school graves.

Author of the article:Heather Polischuk
Publishing date:Jun 24, 2021 • 

A group of girls in a cooking class at the Marieval residential school. (Photo courtesy General collection of the Societe historique de Saint-Boniface)

When Dr. Scott Hamilton with Thunder Bay’s Lakehead University heard the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action in 2015, he anticipated a rush to use his and his colleagues’ findings to locate graves of Indigenous children who died while at Canadian residential schools.

That didn’t happen.

“I’m a little surprised,” said Hamilton, professor and author of “Where are the Children buried?”, submitted in 2015 for use by the TRC. “I was kind of anticipating this kind of national reaction in 2015 but it didn’t really come. And I kind of thought, OK, well, it will eventually. The years go by and then spring of 2021 and the Kamloops story broke and captured international attention, and that kind of forced a mobilization on the part of provincial and federal and territorial governments. And it’s now this mad scramble of, ‘OK, we have information about one of at least 130 or more schools. What about the remainder?’ Today, we had the other shoe fall.”

That shoe — the finding of 751 unmarked graves at the former Marieval Residential School — occurred on Cowessess First Nation, with details provided to the public on Thursday.

Cowessess First Nation, Sask.: Using ground-penetrating radar, evidence of 751 unmarked graves have been located to date at the site of the former Marieval Residential School on what is now Cowessess First Nation land. Photo provided by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations on June 24, 2021. 

While there is some question as to exactly how many bodies lie on the site, most are believed to be children who attended the school.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) has called the find “the most significantly substantial to date in Canada.”

It’s been six years since Hamilton submitted his final report — one which used existing records and research by others combined with satellite technology to try to figure out precisely where the nation’s residential school cemeteries are located. Using freely accessible satellite imagery like Google Earth, Hamilton was able to pinpoint numerous locations he believes are cemeteries.

His 43-page report also delved into the history of the schools in a bid to understand the high mortality rates connected with them — not a simple task given sporadic record-keeping by those connected with the schools.

VIDEO Lakehead University professor Scott Hamilton says residential schools maintained minimal documentation of burial sites and conducted burials on an 'ad-hoc' basis.

A 1909 report by the then-chief medical officer with Indian Affairs calculated an annual death rate between 1892 and 1908 among select residential schools of 8,000 per 100,000 — far above the 430 per 100,000 noted for Canadian children in the 1901 census.

While all Canadians experienced high mortality rates during Spanish flu and tuberculosis epidemics, Hamilton found such situations were exacerbated by the the crowded, unsanitary and overall poor conditions of residential schools.

“On one level, it’s kind of a perfect storm,” he said. “So we have a very, very poorly developed public health infrastructure throughout much of the mid-1800s through to the mid-1900s. We have Indigenous communities that are epidemiologically vulnerable to all of these communicable diseases. We have a pretty clear indication that a number of these diseases were impacting the communities from which these kids came. And we pluck up kids from a number of different communities and cram them into a single school — poorly ventilated, poorly heated, poor diet — and of course these diseases are going to just explode like wildfire within those places.”

A photograph of some religious and pupils of the Marieval school during a ceremony. (Photo courtesy General collection of the Societe historique de Saint-Boniface) PHOTO BY GILMOUR, KIER

He said an element of systemic racism factors into a failure to notify many families of children’s deaths. Equally troubling was the fact the federal government often refused to pay to have children’s bodies returned to their home communities due to cost, calling on parents — most of whom were impoverished — to pay the costs if they wished the bodies returned home.

Hamilton said there remain important lessons to be learned from the tragic legacy of residential schools — as reinforced by the TRC’s calls to action — including “the absolute necessity for education about this aspect of Canadian history.”

“There is a key component of the calls (to action) that talks about the need for education, and that is still not appropriately addressed,” he said.

In a social media post, the FSIN provided phone numbers for those grappling with emotional distress as a result of the discoveries. Those in need of support can call the Indian Residential School Survivors Society at 1-800-721-0066, toll free, or the 24-hour Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.

Regina woman walking to Kamloops to honour residential school victims, survivors

"All those horrifying stories that you can't even imagine, are true, and (we think about) how they survived that and how strong they are to survive that, but how broken and lost we are."

Author of the article:Jennifer Ackerman
Publishing date:Jun 24, 2021 • 4 hours ago • 2 minute read • Join the conversation

Richelle Dubois and her 18-year-old son James are walking from Regina to Kamloops as a way to honour and heal from the recent discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School near the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. Photo by Richelle Dubois.

As Richelle Dubois and her 18-year-old son James make their way on foot from the Regina Indian Industrial School, on the city’s outskirts, all the way to Kamloops B.C., they talk, cry and reflect on the legacy and trauma of residential schools.

“We think about the children. We think about how it affected us. How it still effects us. What our grandparents went through,” said Dubois from the side of the Trans-Canada just outside of Moose Jaw on Thursday afternoon. “All those horrifying stories that you can’t even imagine, are true, and (we think about) how they survived that and how strong they are to survive that, but how broken and lost we are.”

The pair are walking from Regina to Kamloops as a way to honour and heal from the recent discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School near the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation.

But on Wednesday, they had to add the discovery of 751 more unmarked graves at the Marieval Residential School on Saskatchewan’s Cowessess First Nation to their healing journey.

“It’s heartbreaking — shocking and heartbreaking and unbelievable, but real. This is our reality,” said Dubois, whose father attended the residential school on Cowessess.

“Other people are just now noticing and seeing what we’ve always known our whole lives. I’m glad to see that people are seeing the genocide in Canada, the genocide that we see on a day-to-day basis.”

Richelle Dubois of Pasqua First Nation stands for a portrait at the Justice for Our Stolen Children camp across from the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on Sept. 12, 2018

Dubois’ son Haven was 14 years old when he died on May 20, 2015. His body was found in an east Regina ravine. Although Regina police have said they have no evidence of foul play, Dubois believes her son was murdered and that police didn’t properly investigate his death — one of many broken systems in a colonial world, she said.

“We still face that genocide through foster care systems, through incarceration, through missing and murdered aboriginal men and women, a lack of investigation, no accountability, the health care system, the education system,” she said. “There’s so much wrong and it stems from residential schools.”

The pair began their journey on June 22 and are detailing their walk on social media with photos and updates. They do not have an end date in mind, focusing on the journey of healing instead of the destination.

“Knowing what it’s like to lose your children, it’s not something that anybody should have to face,” said Dubois through tears. “I walk for our children, all of our children.”

Richelle Dubois and her 18-year-old son James are walking from Regina to Kamloops as a way to honour and heal from the recent discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School near the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. Photo by Richelle Dubois.

Various items along the fence line of the Regina Indian Industrial School (RIIS) cemetery on Thursday, June 24, 2021 in Regina. PHOTO BY TROY FLEECE /Regina Leader-Post

In a social media post, the FSIN provided phone numbers for those grappling with emotional distress as a result of the discoveries. Those in need of support can call the Indian Residential School Survivors Society at 1-800-721-0066, toll free, or the 24-hour Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.

Mandryk: Cowessess residential school gravesite a reckoning for us all

A day of reckoning has arrived.

“We had concentration camps here,” 

 “They were called residential school.”

© Provided by Leader Post Flags mark the site of 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Residential School on what is now Cowessess First Nation land. Photo provided by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations on June 24, 2021.

The potential of 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess First Nation demands we see this historical atrocity for what it always was.

We cannot look away.

This is the truth part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The TRC report could only verify a “partial number” of 566 children dying at all Saskatchewan residential schools and 3,200 total historic deaths throughout Canada’s shameful Indian residential school history. Even before the Cowessess discovery, last month’s finding of 215 graves at the site of the former Kamloops residential school put that number in doubt.

But the issue isn’t the statistics. It is so much bigger than that.

What’s far more important is the understanding that we probably will never have a final number because governments, churches and society didn’t think Indigenous children worth counting … or, as it turns out, worthy of a proper burial.

“Today, they are unmarked graves,” Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme said Thursday. “The Catholic Church removed these headstones.”

By way of injecting as much accuracy and fairness into this tragedy as he possibly could, Delorme repeatedly stressed Thursday this was not a “mass gravesite.” He carefully explained the science of the ground-penetrating radar that covered 41,000 square meters and comes with a 10-per-cent margin of error. For that reason, the so-far identified graves may not be the full 751 but certainly fall higher than 600.

Delorme further acknowledged some of these graves may contain the remains of community adults buried at this site before the school’s existence or after it was built.

But Delorme’s grace in not wanting to be perceived as exaggerating should not detract from the reckoning this news must bring about.

Video: Discovery of unmarked graves at Saskatchewan residential school site announced (Leader Post)

This is not about a specific number. This is about a specific truth — for decades, children buried here were stripped of their families, culture and religion.

Injustices against Indigenous children were not just something that happened when the Marieval Indian Residential School opened in 1899. It happened through its history. This is as much of a reality as are the children that now lie in unmarked graves in Cowessess because they were not deemed important enough to send their bodies home to their families.

Delorme on Thursday graciously acknowledged “there are many who agree to disagree” but that “there is no doubt the Roman Catholic Church has a profound impact” on his community; a community that will continue to struggle as it tries to heal.

“The more we put names to them, the more it is going to hurt,” Delorme said.

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) Chief Bobby Cameron chose words far more direct. During Thursday’s online press conference that attracted journalists from all around the world, Cameron spared no one’s feelings by calling this a genocide on Canadian soil.

“We had concentration camps here,” Cameron said. “They were called residential school.”

Cameron’s demands were certainly in no way unreasonable, calling for “something more than an apology” including further identifying gravesites and access to church records.

There should be no denying the hurt being felt by all First Nations people. We all need to see this day as the reckoning it very much is.

Sadly, some still consumed by the darkness of their own anger, hate and racism would prefer to see this story remain in the dark. Others will, unhelpfully, attempt to blame this century-long catastrophe on whichever government or party they most dislike today.

But before anyone engages in either, maybe we should heed the thoughts Delorme used to end Thursday’s press conference.

He spoke of his love for his First Nations community and his preference to work toward a solid economic future for his children. His message to white settler neighbours was a simple request they help in the healing.

“The truth is there,” Delorme said. “Everybody has to reset the ignorance or the accidental racism.”

This is a day of reckoning for us all.

Murray Mandryk  is political columnist for the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

'They made us believe we didn't have souls:' Marieval residential school survivor

A Cowessess First Nation elder is recalling the abusive and dehumanizing experiences she had while attending a residential school in Saskatchewan as news of the hundreds of unmarked graves found at the site rippled around the world.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Florence Sparvier, 80, said Thursday that she spent time at the Marieval Indian Residential School when she was a child.

“They made us believe we didn’t have souls," said Sparvier, who is a knowledge keeper at Cowessess.

“They were putting us down as a people, so we learned how not to like who we were."

She said she was taken to the school by her parents.

“At that time, if the parents didn’t want to allow their children to go to boarding school, one of them had to go to jail. So in order to keep the family together, we went to boarding school.”

On Thursday, Cowessess First Nation announced that ground-penetrating radar had detected 751 unmarked graves at the Marieval site. Last month, a First Nation in British Columbia said radar had found what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Sparvier was the third generation of her family to go to the Marieval school, after her mother and her grandmother. She also attended the Lebret Indian Industrial Residential School.

She said the nuns at the Marieval school worked to strip students of their Indigenous knowledge and identity.

“We learned,” she said. “They pounded it into us. And really, they were very mean. When I say pounding, I mean pounding."

The school, about 160 kilometres east of Regina, was built in 1899 by Roman Catholic missionaries. It closed in 1996.

“We had to learn to be a Roman Catholic," Sparvier said. "We couldn’t say our own little blessings the way we said it at home.

"We had our own way of honouring ourselves and Mother Earth in our own homes when we were little, but we had to leave all that.”

Sparvier said the teachers at the residential school were “very condemning” about First Nations people.

Eagleclaw Thom in Ottawa said he cried on the phone with family members as they shared stories of attending Marieval and other residential schools.

Thom, who is from Sakimay First Nation, which borders Cowessess, did not attend Marieval but his father and paternal grandparents did.

To really honour those who lost their childhoods or their lives at the school, he said, action needs to be taken to ensure Indigenous children are now supported, too.

"They are still jailing our kids," he said.

Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations described the residential school system as “a crime against humanity, an assault on First Nations people.”

The federation represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan.

“The only crime we ever committed as children was being born Indigenous,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2021.

-- With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Winnipeg

Julia Peterson, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had 715 unmarked graves.

The Archdiocese of Regina is apologizing to the people of a Saskatchewan First Nation after the discovery of an estimated 751 unmarked graves at a residential school.

© Cowessess First Nation Don Bolen, the Archbishop of Regina, said words fail him with news of the discovery of an estimated 751 unmarked graves at a former residential school in Saskatchewan.

The discovery of the unmarked graves was made at the site of the former Marieval Residential School on the Cowessess First Nation, east of Regina.

Don Bolen, the archbishop of Regina, said words fail him with news of the discovery.

Read more: Estimated 751 unmarked graves found at former Saskatchewan residential school

“I can only imagine the pain and waves of emotion that you and your people are experiencing right now,” he said in an open letter to the people of Cowessess First Nation and Chief Cadmus Delorme.

“I know that apologies seem a very small step as the weight of past suffering comes into greater light, but I extend that apology again.”

Bolen apologized two years ago to Cowessess First Nation for the failures and sins of the church toward the Cowessess peoples.

He pledged to turn Thursday’s apology into “meaningful, concrete acts.”

“Including assisting in accessing information that will help to provide names and information about those buried in unmarked graves — and to stand by you in whatever way you request.”


Delorme said he spoke with Bolen prior to Thursday’s announcement.

“What we are going to be doing now is we are going to be putting names to these unmarked graves,” he said.

“Don (Bolen) has been to the site a few times and has committed to helping with what we want.”

Bolen said residential schools have left many people deeply wounded and said the truth of the past needs to come out as part of the reconciliation process.

“The gravesite work brings us face to face with the brutal legacy of the Indian residential school system, a product of a colonialist history which has left so much suffering and intergenerational trauma,” Bolen said.

“Even for those of us who were not there or not involved, it is nonetheless the painful legacy that we need to carry.”

Read more: ‘Terribly saddened’ — Trudeau laments residential school graves discovery in Saskatchewan

He said the findings of the unmarked graves by ground-penetrating radar impacts the archdiocese on a deeper level due to the relationship it has with Cowessess.

“Several Cowessess members have been involved in the Archdiocese of Regina’s Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, or have worked with us on projects trying to address the Calls to Action.

“Because of that network of relationships, we feel even more intensely the overwhelm of this moment.”

Delorme also called on Pope Francis to apologize.

“The pope needs to apologize for what has happened to the Marieval Residential School,” Delorme said.

“An apology is one stage of many in the healing journey.”

Video: Cowessess First Nation Chief calls for Pope to apologize for church’s role in residential schools

It follows a similar call following the discovery of the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Both schools were run by the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis said on June 6 that he was following the news of the finding in Kamloops “with pain,” but stopped short of an apology.

The national assembly of Catholic bishops in Canada is preparing to send a delegation of Indigenous people to the Vatican for a visit with Pope Francis to discuss Canada’s residential school system and the role the Catholic Church played.

Bolen said the delegation is scheduled to meet with the Pope before the end of the year.

“It would allow Indigenous people to speak directly to Pope Francis for him to hear them and then to respond,” he said.

“I strongly support that that effort and trust that the Pope will speak from his heart.”

Video: Indigenous groups, bishops will meet with the Pope: Archbishop of Regina

Anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience can access the 24-hour, toll-free and confidential National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419

An additional crisis line has been set up for local community members in light of this news, and can be reached at 306-522-7494.

— With files from Sean Boynton

People complicit in Canada’s residential school deaths should be charged, group says

David Lao 

GLOBAL NEWS

JUNE 24,2021

© Getty Images The Criminal Code of Canada doesn't explicitly mention "hate crime," so how does the system address the problem?

A Native association is demanding charges be laid over the deaths of Indigenous children at residential schools, including still-living members of religious orders or governments who were complicit in those deaths.

The demands, made by the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), comes just after the discovery of an estimated 751 unmarked graves at the Marieval Indian Residential School site in Saskatchewan.

The NWAC is also demanding that the sites of former Indian residential schools be declared crime scenes and that an investigation into how each child buried there died -- as well as into who is responsible for their deaths -- be conducted.

Video: Unmarked First Nations graves found at former Saskatchewan residential school

Read more: Estimated 751 unmarked graves found at former Saskatchewan residential school

"In addition, we are demanding that charges be laid against people still living who are found to be the perpetrators of these crimes, including the members of the religious orders that ran the schools, as well as the governments and the churches that we know to be complicit," read a statement from the association on Thursday.

The Marieval school was run and built by the Roman Catholic Church and was funded by the federal government beginning in 1901. According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation's public records, the school had eight student deaths.

The discovery of the unmarked graves were first announced Wednesday evening after Cowessess First Nation first began using ground-penetrating radar technology in early June.

Video: ‘A pedophile playground’: Survivor details experiences attending Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan

According to Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme, the site was currently being treated as a "crime scene." He said during a press conference that he could not yet confirm whether all of the unmarked graves contain children, with oral stories of adults being buried there as well.

The announcement comes weeks after the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked burial sites at a residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

Delorme further clarified during the press conference that the Saskatchewan discoveries are unmarked graves, not a mass gravesite.

Read more: ‘They made us believe we didn’t have souls’: Survivors of Saskatchewan residential school speak out

“In the 1960s, the Catholic Church removed the headstones and today, we have over 600 unmarked graves,” said Delorme.

The NWAC said that the Criminal Code of Canada allows charges to be laid against governments and institutions -- including churches -- "in cases where they have failed to provide the necessaries of life to people who were in their care."

Video: Residential school discoveries highlight Canada’s long road to reconciliation

"In Canada, we live under the rule of law. The law does not allow those who are responsible for the deaths of children to walk free with impunity," the statement said.

Brendan Miller, a special counsel at Foster LLP, told Global News on Thursday that there is "nothing" stopping police from charging those responsible.

Though, the main obstacle preventing any sort of charges from being laid according to Miller is the federal government, who, alongside the RCMP were complicit with the Church.

Many of the rural areas where such residential schools are located have RCMP serving as their main police force, and Miller said there has been evidence of "countless crimes" from way before the discoveries of Kamloops and Marieval -- pointing specifically at the Indian Residential Schools Settlement agreement in which the government identified over 5,300 alleged abusers, most of whom were never charged.

Video: Cowessess First Nation asks for ‘time to heal’ following discovery of unmarked graves at Saskatchewan residential school

Because of this, Miller said that he doesn’t believe the government “will do the right thing,” and instead previously put out a call demanding for an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) following the discovery of the Kamloops burial site.

“The federal government has done little to nothing about this for decades and you know the Indigenous people in Canada knew that these things are going on and instead of supporting them, the federal government tried to suppress it and they continue to suppress it,” said Miller.

Read more: ‘It’s going to take some time’: Residential school survivor Robert Kakakaway reflects on healing

Video: ‘You heard them begging for help’: Survivor of Saskatchewan residential school recalls painful memories

"Now, the discoveries have resulted in all of this coming out and they are not handling this properly."

A legal scholar and advocate from the University of British Columbia previously told Global News shortly after the discovery of the unmarked burial sites in Kamloops that the finding highlighted the need for a formal, legal and human rights framework to investigate similar sites.

“A mass grave is a crime scene, it is not a historic site or a heritage site,” Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond told Global News earlier in June.

“The United Nations has a framework to deal with mass unmarked graves in such situations like Rwanda and other places around the world."

-- With files from Kelly Skjerven

___

Anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience can access the 24-hour, toll-free and confidential National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419

An additional crisis line has been set up for local community members in light of this news, and can be reached at 306-522-7494.

DEVELOPING
‘We will not stop until we find all of our children’: Discovery of 751 unmarked graves only the beginning, say Saskatchewan Indigenous leaders

By Brendan Kennedy Social Justice Reporter
Alex Boyd Calgary Bureau

TORONTO STAR

Thu., June 24, 2021

Workers with ground penetrating radar on Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan. As many as 751 unmarked graves have been detected at the former site of Marieval Indian Residential School, which operated from 1898 until 1997, and was run by the Catholic Church for most of its history.




Warning: This story contains details of residential schools and the abuse that took place there.

With reporters from around the world turning their attention to his small community on Thursday, Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme stared calmly into his computer screen and delivered a message for all to hear.

Echoing the words of residential school survivors across the country, he told a virtual news conference, “We always knew that there were graves here.”

This was Cowessess First Nation’s moment to tell its story.

But Delorme knew it was also only one point at the beginning of what will be a very long road, as his community of 4,300 in southeastern Saskatchewan and so many others across Canada reckon with this country’s brutal legacy of residential schools.


“There’s going to be many more stories in the future,” the chief acknowledged.


For the second time in a month, ground-penetrating radar has confirmed what government and church authorities have been accused of trying to suppress for most of Canada’s history.

VIDEO Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme tells CBC News his community would be treating the site "like a crime scene" because of what happened at, and adjacent to, the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.

As many as 751 unmarked graves have been detected at the former site of Marieval Indian Residential School, which operated from 1898 until 1997, and was run by the Catholic Church for most of its history.

It’s not yet clear whether all of the graves contain children’s remains, Delorme said.

The community started its investigation less than a week after Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation near Kamloops, B.C., announced the discovery of the remains of 215 children on the site of a former residential school.

If Delorme was measured in his tone, Bobby Cameron, the chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, was more direct.

“We are seeing the results of the genocide Canada committed,” said Cameron, the head of a federation that represents Saskatchewan’s 74 First Nations.

“We will find more bodies and we will not stop until we find all of our children,” he said. “We will do a search of every Indian residential school site and we won’t stop there. We will also search all of the sanatoriums, Indian hospitals, and all of the sites where our people were taken and abused, tortured, neglected and murdered. We will tell the stories of our children, of our people who died, who were killed by the state and the churches and we won’t stop until we locate all of them.”

The world is watching, Cameron added.


“Canada will be known as a nation who tried to exterminate their First Nations. Now we have evidence. Evidence of what the survivors of Indian Residential Schools have been saying all along, for decades — that they were treated without humanity, that they were tortured and abused, that they saw their classmates die.”

The grave site in what is now Cowessess First Nation was overseen by the Catholic Church from 1886 — 12 years before Marieval opened — until the 1970s, Delorme said. There had been grave markings at some point, but the church removed them in the 1960s, he said.

“Removing headstones is a crime in this country, and we are treating this like a crime scene at the moment,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Regina said the Cowessess First Nation has told them that in the midst of a dispute in the 1960s between a priest not associated with the Archdiocese and the Cowessess chief at the time, “the priest bulldozed several grave markers.”


In 2019, the Archdiocese gave $70,000 to Cowessess First Nation to improve the site and help identify unmarked graves. The spokesperson said that archival death records covering a period from 1885 to 1952 were also previously given to Cowessess.

In his remarks on Thursday, Delorme said he was “optimistic” the church will work with his community, but that he is still waiting for them to hand over records related to Marieval.

“We have full faith that the Roman Catholic Church will release our records,” he said. “They have not told us, ‘No.’ We just don’t have them yet.”

Delorme also called on Pope Francis to apologize to survivors of Marieval and their descendants. “An apology is one stage of many in the healing journey,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has previously called on Pope Francis to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in running residential schools, as the United and Anglican churches have already done. Francis has not heeded those calls.

As far as Betty Nippi-Albright is concerned, the time for platitudes is over.

Speaking toward the end of an emotional day, the Saskatchewan New Democrat MLA, who herself attended a residential school for nine years, declared the time for expressions of sympathy to be at an end.

  

In 2019, the Archdiocese gave $70,000 to Cowessess First Nation to improve the site and help identify unmarked graves. The spokesperson said that archival death records covering a period from 1885 to 1952 were also previously given to Cowessess.

In his remarks on Thursday, Delorme said he was “optimistic” the church will work with his community, but that he is still waiting for them to hand over records related to Marieval.

“We have full faith that the Roman Catholic Church will release our records,” he said. “They have not told us, ‘No.’ We just don’t have them yet.”

Delorme also called on Pope Francis to apologize to survivors of Marieval and their descendants. “An apology is one stage of many in the healing journey,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has previously called on Pope Francis to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in running residential schools, as the United and Anglican churches have already done. Francis has not heeded those calls.

As far as Betty Nippi-Albright is concerned, the time for platitudes is over.


Speaking toward the end of an emotional day, the Saskatchewan New Democrat MLA, who herself attended a residential school for nine years, declared the time for expressions of sympathy to be at an end.

“We don’t need moral support. What we need is dollars to help us cope, help us heal from the trauma that we’re still experiencing today.”

She called the recent funding to search for graves a good start, but said more is needed to ensure that Indigenous people are able to access equitable medical and mental health services.

The push for an end to systemic racism will be harder, she said.

“For mainstream folks, what they can do is, whether it’s signing petitions or writing to their elected officials, demand that they actually provide some real support rather than just ‘we’re really sorry.’”



Regina Archbishop Don Bolen was not available for an interview Thursday, but in an open letter to Delorme posted to the Archdiocese’s website, Bolen reiterated a previous apology “for the failures and sins of Church leaders and staff in the past towards the people of Cowessess.”

“I know that apologies seem a very small step as the weight of past suffering comes into greater light,” he writes, “but I extend that apology again, and pledge to do what we can to turn that apology into meaningful concrete acts, including assisting in accessing information that will help to provide names and information about those buried in unmarked graves and to stand by you in whatever way you request.”

Delorme stressed the Marieval site did not contain a mass grave, but unmarked graves roughly one metre by one metre. He said they used the same ground-penetrating radar technology used in Kamloops, partnering with experts from Saskatchewan Polytechnic, which estimated a margin of error of between 10 and 15 per cent.

Delorme said this first phase of the investigation involved a search of 44,000 square metres. They will continue to search other parts of the site, he said, adding their goal is to identify each of the remains and mark all of the graves.

“This is going to be years in the making.”



Last month’s discovery in Kamloops has led to a renewed reckoning over Canada’s residential schools history and fresh calls to search the grounds of all former sites across the country, and even in the United States.

A statement from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation Thursday offered their support for their fellow First Nation.

SECOND MASS GRAVE FINDING

Hundreds of child remains found at old indigenous school in Saskatchewan, Canada

June 24 (UPI) -- Hundreds of remains have been found in unmarked graves at a former Canadian school for Indigenous children in Saskatchewan, the second such discovery in the country over the past month.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said Wednesday a search of the former Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess First Nation in southern Saskatchewan found the remains on the property.

Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme said there were more than 300 remains found at the school's location, calling it a "horrific and shocking discovery," according to the Regina Leader-Post.

The Marieval Indian Residential School was part of a system that placed Indigenous children in boarding schools across Canada. Indigenous leaders have long complained that many children were never returned to their parents and were given little, if any, information about what happened to them.
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The disappearances have long been part of Canadian indigenous oral histories, but the discoveries offer confirmation for the stories that have passed through generations.

"There's no denying this: All of the stories told by our survivors are true," Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby said, according to The New York Times. "This is what the Catholic Church in Canada and the government of Canada of the day forced on our children."

Last month, the Tk'emlupste Secwépemc First Nation announced that the remains of 215 children had been buried at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. The government ran that school from 1890 to 1969 after taking over administration from the Catholic Church to operate it as a day school residence. It eventually closed in 1978.

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The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said it's now assisting First Nations in searching more than 20 former residential school sites in Saskatchewan for similar signs of unmarked graves.

"Today, all of Saskatchewan mourns for those who were discovered buried in unmarked graves near the former Marieval Indian Residential School site," Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said in a Facebook post.

"I understand many were children, and it is heartbreaking to think that so many children lost their lives after being separated from their families, and away from the love and solace only a family can provide."

Moe said he has offered provincial support in the investigation into the other boarding schools.

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Airlines, pilots, flight attendants urge prosecutions for unruly passengers

Unions for flight attendants and pilots are calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to criminally prosecute disruptive passengers onboard flights. 

File photo by Nir Elias/UPI/Pool | License Photo

June 21 (UPI) -- A coalition of U.S. airlines and employee unions on Monday urged the Biden administration to criminally prosecute passengers' unruly and disruptive behavior onboard aircraft.

A group including the carrier trade organizations and unions representing pilots, flight attendants and transport workers together called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to "commit to the full and public prosecution of onboard acts of violence."

"These incidents pose a safety and security threat to our passengers and employees," they said in a letter.

Their call comes after the Federal Aviation Administration reported last week it has received 3,000 cases of unruly behavior by passengers so far this year, including 2,300 for refusing to comply with face mask mandates.

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson in January announced a stricter, "zero tolerance" legal enforcement policy against unruly passengers in which offenders could face fines of up to $35,000 and imprisonment for interfering with crew members.

Under the new guidelines, the FAA has levied a combined $368,000 in civil penalty actions against 21 passengers so far, but fines alone aren't enough to address the spike in bad behavior, the coalition said.

"We ask that more be done to deter egregious behavior, which is in violation of federal law and crew member instruction," they said. "Specifically, the federal government should send a strong and consistent message through criminal enforcement that compliance with federal law and upholding aviation safety are of paramount importance."

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The letter was signed by the Air Line Pilots Association, Allied Pilots Association, Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the National Air Carrier Association, among other organizations.

The trade group Airlines for America also wrote separately to Dickson asserting the U.S. government "is well equipped to prosecute unruly and disruptive onboard behavior" under federal laws prohibiting assault or intimidation of a flight crewmember or flight attendant.

"Making these prosecutions public will put a spotlight on the serious consequences when breaking the law and will act as an effective deterrent against future onboard disruptions," the group said.

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Medicaid enrollment soars to record 80M during COVID-19 pandemic

Teachers and school employees in Wylie, Texas, receive a COVID-19 vaccine on March 26. The pandemic was behind a record surge in Medicaid enrollment during 2020, officials said Monday. File photo by Ian Halperin/UPI | License Photo


June 21 (UPI) -- Enrollment in state Medicaid and children's health programs shot up by nearly 10 million to an all-time high of 80 million during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration announced Monday.

A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services snapshot showed combined enrollment in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) jumped by 13.9% between February 2020 and January 2021.

Enrollment in Medicaid alone soared 15.2% to 74 million during the same period.

The record-high numbers show that for parents who may have lost a job or experienced another adverse event during the pandemic, "having access to coverage for themselves and their kids is life-changing," CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in an issued statement.

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The administration, she said, "is committed to ensuring our nation's marginalized communities and low-income families have the coverage they need."

"This pandemic taught us that now more than ever, we must work to strengthen Medicaid and make it available whenever and wherever it's needed using the unprecedented investments Congress provided," added Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

CMS officials said the massive enrollment jump is attributable to a surge in demand caused by the economic fallout of the pandemic, as well as to increased federal funding provided by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which was enacted by Congress in March 2020 as the first of a series of COVID-19 relief bills.

The legislation provides states with a temporary 6.2% increase in their medical assistance payments as long as the health emergency remains ongoing. In exchange, states needed to promise to not remove anyone from the rolls until the emergency is declared over.

The Biden administration has indicated the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration will likely remain in effect at least through the end of this year.