Scientists find unexplained collection of fossilized shark teeth in Jerusalem



Researchers found a collection of 80-million-year-old Squalicorax shark teeth from an Iron Age archaeological site in Jerusalem. Photo by Omri Lernau

July 3 (UPI) -- Scientists have uncovered a mysterious cache of shark teeth in the City of David in Jerusalem. The teeth were discovered at least 50 miles from where similar fossils might be unearthed by paleontologists.

Researchers detailed the discovery of the unexplained fossil collection this weekend at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference.

The teeth were found buried in a material used to fill the basement of an Iron Age house for conversion into a larger dwelling.

"These fossils are not in their original setting, so they have been moved," lead researcher Thomas Tuetken said in a press release.

"They were probably valuable to someone; we just don't know why, or why similar items have been found in more than one place in Israel," said Tuetken, a geoscientist and paleontologist at the University of Mainz.

Scientists found ancient food waste, including fish bones, and pottery fragments near the shark teeth cache.

Researchers also recovered hundreds of bullae, clay seals used on confidential letters and packages. Those materials were determined to be 2,900 years old.

At first, the researchers assumed the shark teeth were contemporary with the other artifacts, but an archaeologist working on the excavation suggested the fossil teeth might belong to a Late Cretaceous shark.

Researchers analyzed the organic matter, elemental composition and crystallinity within the shark teeth and determined they were indeed ancient fossils, not Iron Age food scraps.

"Their strontium isotope composition indicates an age of about 80 million years," Tuetken said. "This confirmed that all 29 shark teeth found in the City of David were Late Cretaceous fossils -- contemporary with dinosaurs."

"More than that, they were not simply weathered out of the bedrock beneath the site, but were probably transported from afar, possibly from the Negev, at least [49.7 miles] away, where similar fossils are found," Tuetken said.

Since the discovery, separate archaeological excavations have yielded similarly displaced shark teeth caches in Maresha and Miqne.

"Our working hypothesis is that the teeth were brought together by collectors, but we don't have anything to confirm that," Tuetken said.

"There are no wear marks which might show that they were used as tools, and no drill holes to indicate that they may have been jewelry. We know that there is a market for shark's teeth even today, so it may be that there was an Iron Age trend for collecting such items," Tuetken said.

Paleontologists determined the shark teeth belonged to Squalicorax, or crow shark, an extinct genus of the mackerel shark family that lived during the Cretaceous period.

A paper describing the discovery was published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

The City of David and the sharks' teeth mystery

GOLDSCHMIDT CONFERENCE

Research News

IMAGE: FOSSILISED SQUALICORAX TOOTH NR. #07815 FROM THE JERUSALEM SITE. view more 

CREDIT: OMRI LERNAU

Scientists have found an unexplained cache of fossilised shark teeth in an area where there should be none - in a 2900 year old site in the City of David in Jerusalem. This is at least 80 km from where these fossils would be expected to be found. There is no conclusive proof of why the cache was assembled, but it may be that the 80 million-year-old teeth were part of a collection, dating from just after the death of King Solomon*. The same team has now unearthed similar unexplained finds in other parts of ancient Judea.

Presenting the work at the Goldschmidt Conference, lead researcher, Dr. Thomas Tuetken (University of Mainz, Institute of Geosciences) said:

"These fossils are not in their original setting, so they have been moved. They were probably valuable to someone; we just don't know why, or why similar items have been found in more than one place in Israel".

The teeth were found buried in material used to fill in a basement before conversion to a large Iron-Age house. The house itself was situated in the City of David, one of the oldest parts of Jerusalem, found nowadays in the largely Palestinian village of Silwan. They were found together with fish bones thrown away as food waste 2900 years ago, and other infill material such as pottery. Intriguingly, they were found together with hundreds of bullae - items used to seal confidential letters and packages - implying a possible connection with the administrative or governing class at some point. Normally archaeological material is dated according to the circumstances where it is found, and so at first it was assumed that the teeth were contemporary with the rest of the find. Dr. Tuetken said:

"We had at first assumed that the shark teeth were remains of the food dumped nearly 3000 years ago, but when we submitted a paper for publication, one of the reviewers pointed out that the one of the teeth could only have come from a Late Cretaceous shark that had been extinct for at least 66 million years. That sent us back to the samples, where measuring organic matter, elemental composition, and the crystallinity of the teeth confirmed that indeed all shark teeth were fossils. Their strontium isotope composition indicates an age of about 80 million years. This confirmed that all 29 shark teeth found in the City of David were Late Cretaceous fossils - contemporary with dinosaurs. More than that, they were not simply weathered out of the bedrock beneath the site, but were probably transported from afar, possibly from the Negev, at least 80 km away, where similar fossils are found".

Since the first finds, the team have found other shark teeth fossils elsewhere in Israel, at the Maresha and Miqne sites. These teeth are also likely to have been unearthed and moved from their original sites.

Dr. Tuetken said:

"Our working hypothesis is that the teeth were brought together by collectors, but we don't have anything to confirm that. There are no wear marks which might show that they were used as tools, and no drill holes to indicate that they may have been jewellery. We know that there is a market for shark's teeth even today, so it may be that there was an Iron Age trend for collecting such items. This was a period of riches in the Judean Court. However, it's too easy to put 2 and 2 together to make 5. We'll probably never really be sure".

The shark teeth which have been identified come from several species, including from the extinct Late Cretaceous group Squalicorax. Squalicorax, which grew to between 2 and 5 metres long, lived only during the Late Cretaceous period (which was the same period as the late dinosaurs), so acts as a reference point in dating these fossils.

Commenting, Dr. Brooke Crowley (University of Cincinnati) said:

"This research by Dr. Tuetken and colleagues is an excellent example of why it is so important to approach a research question with as few assumptions as possible, and how sometimes we have to revisit our initial assumptions. It also highlights how beneficial it can be to apply multiple tools to answer a research question. In this case, the authors used both strontium and oxygen isotopes, as well as x-ray diffraction and trace element analysis to establish most likely age and origin of the fossil teeth. It was a monumental of work but these efforts have revealed a much more interesting story about the people who lived in this region in the past. I am very excited by this work and hope that one day, we might be able to unravel the mystery of why these fossil teeth are being recovered from cultural deposits".

CAPTION

Artist's impression of a Squalicorax shark

CREDIT

Dimitri Bogdanov

Dr. Crowley was not involved in this work. The work relating to the Jerusalem finds has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 8:570032 (https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2020.570032), Dr. Crowley edited this paper for the journal. This press release contains additional material not mentioned in the publication.

Notes

This work is presented on 6th July, but is being released to the press early.

*The find dates from the time of the immediate descendants of King Solomon; Rehoboam, Abija, Assa, and Jehoshapat.

The Goldschmidt Conference is the World's main geochemistry conference. It is hosted alternately by the European Association of Geochemistry (Europe) and the Geochemical Society (USA). The 2021 conference (virtual) takes place from 4-9 July, https://2021.goldschmidt.info/. The 2022 conference takes place in Hawaii.

WE DON'T NEED MORE NUKES
Raytheon to develop Long Range Standoff nuclear missiles in $2B contract

Raytheon Technologies Corp. was awarded a $2 billion contract to develop a new nuclear cruise missile, the Pentagon announced this week, which may eventually be launched from B-52 bombers, pictured, among other aircraft. Photo by Sgt. Angelita Lawrence/U.S. Air Force


July 2 (UPI) -- The Pentagon this week awarded Raytheon a contract worth up to $2 billion to develop a new nuclear cruise missile.

The contract, announced Thursday, calls for development of the new missiles through 2027, when a first flight could occur and a decision about production may be made.

The series of air-launched, Long-Range Standoff weapons would replace the Air Launched Cruise or AGM-86, missile first put in service in 1982.

"The ALCM was fielded in the early 1980s with a 10-year design life," the Air Force said Thursday in a press release.

The Air Force has indicated it would purchase up to 1,000 LRSO weapons, and the deal announced by the Defense Department on Thursday indicates that modernizing the U.S. military's ability to deliver nuclear weapons remains a Pentagon priority, Air Force Magazine reported.

The missiles could be accommodated by the B-52 and under-development B-21 bombers as an element in U.S. military strategy known as the nuclear triad, the capability to launch nuclear missiles from land, sea and air assets.

Raytheon became the highly classified program's "sole source contractor" in the Technology, Maturation and Risk Reduction [TMRR] phase in April.

Announcement of the contract came while the Defense Department is conducting a Nuclear Posture Review, the fifth in a series of processes, since 1994, to determine what the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy should have.

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY 

THIRD WORLD USA

Cost a barrier to cervical cancer screening for many U.S. women, study says

By HealthDay News

Many women in the United States aren't screened for cervical cancer because they can't afford it, a new study finds.

Screening helps reduce cervical cancer cases and deaths, but disparities in screening rates exist based on income, insurance status, race and ethnicity

"Low-income women need greater access to insurance coverage options, Medicaid eligibility, or free screening programs so they can undergo regular cervical cancer screening without perceived financial barriers to care," said Dr. Susan Kornstein, editor of the Journal of Women's Health, which published the findings in its June issue.

Only about 64% of uninsured women, 78% of those with government insurance and 75% of low-income women have been screened in accordance with national guidelines, according to the study.

RELATED Cancer screenings for women plummeted during COVID-19 lockdowns

Of women between 25 and 64 years of age who were not up to date on cervical cancer screening, 72% cited cost as a barrier.

The most commonly reported barriers were screening appointment costs (71%) and follow-up/future treatment costs (44%), a team led by Jennifer Smith of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reported.

"Most notably, this study illustrates the importance of the availability and awareness of health insurance and other financial resources to reduce perceived financial barriers to screening," the study authors said in a news release.

RELATEDHPV vaccination is lowering U.S. cervical cancer rates

"Insurance status heavily influences the actual out-of-pocket costs incurred from the cervical cancer screening appointment and labs, which may influence perceived cost burden and barriers," the authors said.More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on cervical cancer screening.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Chinese police academy auctioning off dogs too friendly for law enforcement


The Criminal Investigation Police University of China announced it is auctioning off 54 dogs that flunked out of its police dog training program for not being aggressive or obedient enough for law enforcement. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

July 2 (UPI) -- A police academy in China announced it is holding an auction to find new homes for 54 dogs that flunked out of the program by being too gentle for a career in law enforcement.

The Criminal Investigation Police University of China in northeastern Liaoning province announced the dogs -- primarily German shepherds, Dutch shepherd hybrids and Belgian malinois -- will be auctioned July 7.

The school said the canines were rejected from the police dog training program for reasons including timid personalities, physical weakness or frailty, failure to follow instructions and refusing to bite when prompted.

Each dog starts at about $30, with bids increasing by $7.70 until the auction ends. The school said buyers must sign an agreement to follow government regulations for the proper care of the canines, which the new owners will be prohibited from reselling or otherwise rehoming.

Protestors demand Bolsonaro's impeachment over vaccine scandal



People protest against the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. Photo by Anre Coelho / EPA-EFE

July 3 (UPI) -- On Saturday, protesters demanded the impeachment of Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro amid claims that he sought profits from purchasing COVID-19 vaccines.

Crowds gathered in Brazil's largest cities, including Rio De Janeiro where tens of thousands of demonstrators called for Balsonaro's removal.

"I'm here because we absolutely have to get this monster out of power and reclaim Brazil," protestor Magda Souza told The Guardian.

On Friday, the attorney general's office ordered an investigation into Bolsonaro's role in the vaccine corruption scandal. He's accused of overlooking warnings of irregularities in a deal to secure 20 million vaccines that hadn't completed clinical trials.



People protest against the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, in Rio de Janeiro. Photo by Andre Coelho / EPE-EFA


Witnesses have been shedding light on the government's response to the pandemic, which has taken the lives of over 520,000 Brazilians.

"Every crime committed by the president is serious, but this one is even more serious because it involves lives," Sao Paulo congress member Joice Hasselmann told The New York Times. "Brazil can't stand another year with Bolsonaro."

One hundred legislators presented draft impeachment articles listing scores of alleged crimes earlier this week.

The vaccine scandal in Brazil began in June as members of a Congressional commission became suspicious about the terms of a $316 million deal the government struck to buy 20 million doses of Covaxin.

The deal was made hastily, even though Covaxin hadn't completed clinical trials or been authorized by Brazil's health regulator.

Brazil ignored repeated offers by Pfizer, which offered millions of doses earlier in the year. The Covaxin price tag was higher than what the manufacturer announced previously.



An aerial picture taken with a drone showing people protesting against the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, in Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian Attorney General's Office will have a period of 90 days to investigate the possible irregularities that President Jair Bolsonaro may have incurred in negotiations for vaccines against COVID-19, the Supreme Court reported Friday. Photo by Andre Coelho / EPA-EFE

 #ENDTHEDEATHPENALTY

Filmmaker hopes story of wrongful execution 'sparks change'

Carlos DeLuna (L) and Carlos Hernandez (R) looked so similar that DeLuna's family even had trouble telling them apart. Photos courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment

July 2 (UPI) -- Patrick Forbes, director of a new documentary about what many believe to be the wrongful execution of an innocent man, says he hopes the film "sparks change."

The Phantom, which premieres Friday in theaters, tells the story of Carlos DeLuna.

Texas executed DeLuna in 1989, nearly seven years after prosecutors said he robbed a Corpus Christi convenience store and stabbed an employee, Wanda Lopez, to death. DeLuna maintained his innocence until his execution, telling police that another man at the convenience store killed Lopez -- another Carlos who looked just like him.

Local investigators maintained they could never track down this second man, Carlos Hernandez. He was a phantom.

But more than two decades after DeLuna's execution, a report published by Columbia University's Human Rights Law Review, said Texas convicted and executed the wrong man for Lopez's death.

Not only was there really a Carlos Hernandez, but he looked remarkably like DeLuna and had bragged about getting away with killing Lopez.

Forbes said he was "fascinated" by the story, which he spent eight years bringing to theaters.

"The inherent bones of the story are incredibly dramatic," he told UPI. "They are the stuff of books. They are the stuff of films. They are the stuff of drama."

Not only that, but the story of Lopez's death, DeLuna's wrongful execution and a botched police investigation are "incredibly important," Forbes said. The death penalty, he added, "depends on certainty."

"If you can show it's uncertain, there's no way of going back," he said. The death penalty "is wrong and this movie demonstrates precisely why this is wrong."

Forbes said he felt it was important to tell DeLuna and Lopez's stories in a visually "exciting" way to make them "come alive." He didn't want to rely solely on stagnant interviews with a seated subject.

"In real life, people don't stay in one place. They move around and experience things in different places," he said.

This approach to filming paid off in an unexpected way one night while filming in Corpus Christi.

Forbes said he asked a police officer he was interviewing to crawl on the ground to re-enact the moment authorities arrested DeLuna after chasing him from the convenience store. DeLuna had tried to hide underneath a parked vehicle.

The filmmaker said he had the police lights going at the time to set the scene, and a crowd grew to watch.

"One of the people tapped a producer on the shoulder and said, 'Hey, I was there that night,'" Forbes said, adding that the man told him he saw two men running that night, presumably DeLuna and the "phantom" Hernandez.

"No one at the trial testified to that fact," that they saw "two men running," Forbes added.

He said he was able to get that key piece of eye-witness testimony solely because of his decision to film at the scene with the police lights flashing.

Forbes said he got the idea to make The Phantom from a producer who read about DeLuna's case. James Liebman, a professor at Columbia Law School, wrote the report on DeLuna that first piqued Forbes' attention. He's also interviewed in The Phantom about the case.

Liebman told UPI he was drawn to DeLuna's case because it hinged entirely on eyewitness testimony -- people at the scene of the slaying told police they saw a man run from the convenience store and later identified DeLuna as the suspect. Witnesses, though, described the suspect's clothes differently, indicating two men ran from the scene.

There were failures in "every single stage" of DeLuna's case, including at the time of arrest and throughout the investigation, Liebman said. He said the "great injustice" of DeLuna's wrongful execution, though, wasn't simply the result of a "bad guy" in the criminal justice system who had it out for someone to be executed.

"I think it's important for people to understand that a more common and mundane ... set of failures ... more commonly results in miscarriages of justice than the kind of evil person theory that most people have," he said.

Liebman says he thinks the movie will have an impact with audiences. He pointed to a recent decline in support for the death penalty across the United States.

In its latest poll on the issue, Gallup found that American approval of the death penalty is at its lowest point in more than 50 years, about when the United States resumed the punishment.

The survey released in November found that 55% of Americans support the death penalty, while 43% of Americans oppose it. Support is down from a peak of 80% in the mid-1990s.

That waning support is being written into law as more states ban the death penalty. Virginia became the 23rd state to abolish capital punishment in March, when Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation.

And more than a dozen of the 27 states that still have the death penalty on the books haven't carried out an execution in at least a decade.

Liebman described this moment of change in Americans' opinions as a "watershed point."

"The balance is about to turn against the death penalty on a state-by-state basis," he said.

That change has been reflected across President Joe Biden's career. As senator, he supported the use of the death penalty, but in recent years his stance has shifted toward abolition.

"Since 1973, over 160 individuals in this country have been sentenced to death and were later exonerated," he tweeted in July 2019. "Because we can't ensure that we get these cases right every time, we must eliminate the death penalty."

The federal government hasn't held any executions since Biden took office in January, a stark change from the flurry of 13 executions former President Donald Trump carried out in the last several months of his administration.

It's unclear whether Biden will push for an end to federal executions, though, and indeed, his own Justice Department asked for the death sentence to be reinstated earlier this month for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers behind the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Forbes said he hopes Biden will put an end to the federal death penalty and that The Phantom will help spark that change.

The death penalty "is wrong and this movie demonstrates precisely why this is wrong," he said. "It's the sort of film that you should make as a documentary maker."

Protesters topple Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II statues in Canada

Sam Courtney-GuyMETROFriday 2 Jul 2021 

Demonstrators gathered on Canada Day to highlight historical abuse of indigenous children

Canadian protesters have torn down and defaced statues of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II in anger over the historical treatment of indigenous people.

Demonstrators gathered in Winnipeg, Manitoba to highlight abuses under Canada’s residential schools system, which saw at least 150,000 indigenous children forced away from their families to assimilate them into Canadian society.

Outrage over the system, which ran from the 19th century until the 1990s, has been fuelled by recent discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at the grounds of the schools.

Thursday marked Canada Day, which has traditionally been a celebration of the country’s independence from British rule in 1867.

The date has in recent times prompted mixed reactions following growing awareness of the government’s abuse of First Nation peoples.

Indigenous groups who made the gravesite finds say they have identified 1147 graves which mostly belong to children who attended residential schools.

Up to 6,000 children are thought to have died in the schools, which were funded by the government and administered by the Christian church.

Many were raped, beaten and suffered malnutrition in squalid conditions, according to a seven-year investigation concluded in 2015.

Winnipeg’s statue of Queen Victoria was toppled and defaced on Canada Day (Picture: REUTERS)

Demonstrators gathered to raise awareness of the historical abuse of indigenous children (Picture: REUTERS)

A seven-year report described the schools system as ‘cultural genocide’ (Picture: REUTERS)

Although compulsory attendance of the schools was introduced after Canadian independence, British royals are seen as symbols of the country’s colonial history.

A group which gathered near the local parliament in Winnipeg covered the town’s statue of Queen Victoria in red handprints and left a sign that read: ‘We were children once. Bring them home.’

A smaller statue of the current Queen nearby was also pulled down.

Wednesday saw the most recent discovery of human remains by an indigenous group when 182 graves were found at a Catholic-run school in British Columbia which closed in the 1970s.

Chief Jason Louie of the Lower Kootenay Band told CBC Radio: ‘Let’s call this for what it is. It’s a mass murder of indigenous people.

Hundreds of unmarked graves have recently been linked to the boarding schools (Picture: REUTERS)

‘The Nazis were held accountable for their war crimes.

‘I see no difference in locating the priests and nuns and the brothers who are responsible for this mass murder to be held accountable for their part in this attempt of genocide of an indigenous people.’

A former chief of the St Mary’s Indian Band and a survivor of the school said they had always known of the graves’ existence and called for caution over interpreting the finds.

Sophie Pierre told Global News Canada: ‘To just assume that every unmarked grave inside a graveyard is already tied to a residential school, we’ve got to be a little bit more respectful of our people who are buried in our graveyards.’

Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015 called the residential schools system ‘cultural genocide’.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us

Canadians want governments working harder on Indigenous reconciliation: 

USask researcher

By Kelly Skjerven Global News
Posted July 3, 2021 6:27 pm

A majority of Canadians believe that their governments have not gone far enough in advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, according to the annual Confederation of Tomorrow survey.


Yet a scholar involved in the study, Kurtis Boyer of the University of Saskatchewan, said the already compelling results would likely be even stronger given the survey was completed in January and February — before recent news of unmarked grave discoveries at the sites of former residential schools.

The Confederation of Tomorrow study, an annual survey conducted by an association that includes the public policy graduate schools at the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan, found that more Canadians feel like they have an individual role to play in reconciliation.


READ MORE: Backpack display in Regina in memory of unmarked graves at residential schools being donated

The survey found 70 per cent of Canadians feel they have a role to play in reconciliation, an increase of 15 per cent from 2020.

Boyer, a lecturer at USask’s Johnson Shoyama School of Public Policy, said those aged 18 to 24 are the most familiar with Canada’s residential school system. Boyer said that has an impact on the attitudes of younger, non-Indigenous Canadians.

“Older generations just didn’t really have the access to those Indigenous voices,” Boyer said.

“We’re seeing that more and more as Indigenous nations are beginning to struggle to have those voices heard but also take charge of their own affairs and we’re able to see that there are these opportunities for non-Indigenous Canadians to get involved in those issues.”


People use Canada Day for reconciliation at Saskatoon park

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Truth and reconciliation mural unveiled in Warman, Sask.

How to move forward with the TRC’s calls to action

Boyer added the research found there has been a general increase of awareness of the importance of reconciliation as well as an increase in opinions that governments need to do more to pursue reconciliation.

“One of the more interesting findings from this research that shows that there’s been a general shift in attitudes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples towards these issues,” Boyer said.

Boyer said that shift can be attributed to younger people, between the ages of 18 and 24, having a greater understanding and awareness of residential schools and other events in history that impacted Indigenous people.

“The greater awareness that is associated with the age bracket is actually associated with these opinions of having a greater and greater desire for getting involved and moving these issues forward,” Boyer explained.


READ MORE: A Day to Listen: Amplifying Indigenous voices and working towards reconciliation

Boyer said if the same study was done today, he believes even more people would feel they have a role to play in reconciliation.

“I think that it goes without saying that the horrific and sad discoveries of the unmarked graves of residential school students and victims is something that increases awareness towards these issues,” Boyer said.

Boyer also pointed to events like the Wet’suwet’en’s blockades and protests, and the disputes at Nova Scotia fisheries that boost awareness of issues faced by Indigenous communities.

“These are flashpoints that really get people — we’ve seen in the survey results — to look at these issues and to pay attention.”

Boyer also credits the shift in increased awareness age category to more learning opportunities in elementary, secondary and at a post-secondary level.

The 2021 study surveyed 5,814 adults online in the provinces between Jan. 25 and Feb. 17, and online and by telephone in the territories between Jan. 25 and March 1.

— with files from Kyle Benning
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A Day to Listen: Amplifying Indigenous voices and working towards reconciliation

Pia Araneta

 3 days ago

Wednesday marked A Day to Listen, a partnership between the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund (DWF) and radio stations dedicated to amplifying Indigenous voices.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Chief Madeek (Jeff Brown), front left, hereditary leader of the Gidimt'en clan, and Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chief Namoks (John Ridsdale), front right, carry a flag while leading a solidarity march after Indigenous nations and supporters gathered for a meeting to show support for the Wet'suwet'en Nation, in Smithers, B.C., on Wednesday January 16, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

With more than 500 radio stations across Canada participating, stories will be shared from Indigenous leaders, artists, storytellers and residential school survivors.

Read more: ‘It was just never seen as truth’ — Indigenous stories are there. Are people ready to listen?

“The entire breadth and spectrum of Indigenous voices in Canada is being represented. (It’s) an opportunity to listen, learn and to act,” says educator and activist Bob Watts, who lives in the Six Nations of the Grand River territory.

With the recent estimated discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School — which Al Jazeera called a “forced assimilation institution” — Watts says Canadians need to meet and better understand one another.

“For Indigenous people, it’s felt pretty lonely,” he says, “and over the last couple weeks this outpouring of support, emotion, outrage (and) frustration from everybody — Indigenous and non-Indigenous — I think is making us think and act and consider things in a way that we never have before.”

Video: #CancelCanadaDay

We have been provided with an opportunity to make reconciliation more than just a conversation within parliament, he adds.

Video: Canadian radio stations amplify Indigenous voices on ‘A Day To Listen’ (Global News)

To ensure the conversation continues, Watts recommends resources from the DWF website, your local Indigenous friendship centre and local organizations, as well as joining book clubs.

“Read a novel about the Indigenous experience in Canada,” Watts says. “Read the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation) 94 calls to action.”

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

Downie, a musician and the late lead singer of The Tragically Hip, was an advocate for Indigenous communities before his death in 2017 from brain cancer. When it comes to the power of music and storytelling and its ability to heal, Watts says artists are leading the way.

“We have some real leaders in that world,” he says.

For more information on A Day to Listen, watch the full video above.

--

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.

For a list of Indigenous charities to donate to leading reconciliation efforts and supporting Indigenous communities, you can find a list on the CanadaHelps website.

You can read Canada's Truth and Reconciliation calls to action online.

Video: Radio broadcasters team up to tell Indigenous stories

How unmarked graves haunt the Indigenous community


For decades, beginning in the 1800s, thousands of Indigenous peoples from Canada were taken from their homes and families by the Canadian government, shipped thousands of miles away in some cases and placed into so-called residential schools.

The stated purpose of the schools, some of which date to the 19th century and the last of which closed in the 1990s, was assimilation -- ridding the students of ties to their communities and instilling European culture, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC).

There were reports from the TRC -- a commission funded by the Canadian government as part of a legal settlement to address the wrongs of the system -- of thousands of instances of abuse and mistreatment against students and many of the students did not make it back to their homes in what advocates for the Indigenous population and officials alternately term "injustice," "systemic racism" or even "genocide."

© Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images A family walks through a field where flags and solar lights now mark the site where human remains were discovered in unmarked graves at the former Marieval Indian Residential School site on Cowessess First Nation, Saskatchewan, June 26, 2021.

There have recently been a number of reminders of that grim past -- one which advocates say continues to haunt Indigenous communities.

Another 182 sets of human remains were found on June 30 near the former St. Eugene's Mission School for Indigenous children in the community of Aqam,, bringing the total found in the country in recent days to nearly 1,000.

A week earlier, 751 unmarked graves were found at the cemetery of the former Marieval Indian Residential School. It is unclear how many of the students died or what the causes of death were.

“It’s opened fresh wounds for a number of people,” said David Pratt, the second vice-chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. FSIN is an advocacy organization that represents 74 First Nations in the implementation of treaties that protect Indigenous people and land.

© Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan via Shutterstock A historical photo from 1900 provided by the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan shows Catholic priests with students at the St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Northwest Territories, now Saskatchewan, Canada.

MORE : As Deb Haaland creates unit to investigate missing and murdered Native Americans, a look at why it's necessary

The site at Marieval has the largest number of graves connected to a residential school discovered in Canada so far, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), which archives and compiles the complete history of Canada's residential school system.

In a June 24 statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent his condolences to Indigenous groups across the country following the Marieval discovery.

“They are a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced – and continue to face – in this country,” the statement read. “Together, we must acknowledge this truth, learn from our past, and walk the shared path of reconciliation, so we can build a better future.”

However, Stephanie Scott, executive director of the NCTR, said that these problems continue to harm Indigenous communities to this day.

“The residential school system has impacted generations,” Scott said. “Take action, take responsibility to learn the true history, seek out survivors and indigenous people and start that dialogue.”


What are residential schools?

What are residential schools? In a 2015 report, the NCTR said there had been 150,000 First Nation, Métis and Inuit students in the residential school system. The first schools of this kind were formed in the 1860s and lasted all the way until the final school, Gordon Indian Residential School, closed in the late 1990s.

About 139 Indian residential schools were identified in the 2006 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement.

For decades, Indigenous children in both Canada and the United States were taken from their families and sent to boarding schools, sometimes thousands of miles away, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Scott, who was a student in one of these schools in the 1960s, said that many students were beaten and abused for speaking their language or practicing Indigenous traditions. She said there have been reports of physical and sexual abuse, neglect, and illness.

“We've even heard stories about young girls getting pregnant and the children being born and putting into incinerators,” Scott said. “We've heard stories of children being hidden in walls. We went to the community one time where there was a caretaker’s house where we found this strap that was covered in blood.”

The official report from TRC reiterates stories of children being strapped, beaten, and forced into crawl spaces.MORE: Why Native American children have higher rates of disability

Scott said her mother got pregnant while attending the residential schools, and child welfare authorities took her away and put her in a separate residential school.

“I was adopted out yeah into a community with that forced assimilation and those policies where I didn't have access to my culture and community,” Scott said. “I grew up without my language.”

Why are there so many unmarked graves?

Many students never returned home from the schools, according to the NCTR. The NCTR reports that the deaths of more than 4,000 children have been connected to residential schools, as graves of young children continue to be uncovered -- but Scott said that there are likely more left to be found.

Researchers have been used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to discover unmarked burials, like the St. Eugene's Mission School and the Marieval Indian Residential School.

THE NUN

© Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan via Shutterstock A historical photo from 1900 provided by the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan shows a Roman Catholic nun with students at the St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Duck Lake, Northwest Territories, now Saskatchewan, Canada.

In May, researchers also found the remains of 215 students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Some children buried onsite had been as young as 3 years old.

The NCTR has found that many of the children died from illness and malnourishment, among other causes. Scott said she’s heard stories from old school attendees who claimed illnesses and injuries went untreated.

It is unclear how all of the children have died, and who they were.

For many, the discovery of graves is a time of grief, as many can remember the days when residential schools were still around. Pratt said the discoveries of unmarked graves bring up a lot of emotion, trauma and heartbreak for those who’ve been lost and called on the Canadian government and the Roman Catholic Church to help.

“They need to apologize and they need to take responsibility and ownership on the trauma and the chaos they've caused amongst indigenous peoples of this land,” Pratt said.

Who has taken responsibility for these?

The residential schools were run by the Canadian government, the department of Indian Affairs and churches, including the Roman Catholic Church at various points in their histories, which has been connected with the recent unmarked grave discoveries.

The St. Eugene's Mission School, for instance, was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1912 to 1970. The Marieval Indian Residential School was also run by the Church from 1899 to 1997.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was run by the Church until the late 60s when it was taken over by the federal government.MORE: 215 bodies discovered at former residential school for Indigenous children in Canada

Pope Francis plans to meet in December with Indigenous survivors of the residential school system from the First Nations, Metis and Inuit groups.

But the Roman Catholic Church has yet to issue a statement on the discoveries. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comments.

According to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, the United States also had more than 350 government-funded boarding schools across the US.

In 2000, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin Gover apologized for the trauma and violence against children at the American residential schools.

Trudeau, in his recent statement following the discovery of the Marieval graves, said he promised to help Indigenous people in Canada heal.

“The government will continue to provide Indigenous communities across the country with the funding and resources they need to bring these terrible wrongs to light,” the statement read. “While we cannot bring back those who were lost, we can – and we will – tell the truth of these injustices, and we will forever honour their memory.”

In the largest class-action settlement in Canadian history, reached in 2007, Canada promised funding, support, and the formation of federal commissions to help the community heal. The settlement of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement was a step, activists say, but many are demanding stronger action.

High incarceration rates, poverty, addiction, trauma, and climate change have plagued Indigenous communities, and Pratt links them to the lasting effects of residential schools.

Scott agreed, saying the unmarked graves have opened up an opportunity to discuss what Indigenous communities are owed and what they continue to experience as a community. Scott said education and dialogue about these atrocities are just the first steps.

“Canada must claim responsibility for the genocide and it has to show a commitment to sharing these truths with all people in Canada,” Scott said.