A year ago, on May 27, 2021, the discovery by georadar of what was described as the remains of some 200 missing Indigenous children was announced. These children were buried in a secret cemetery, located in an orchard, near the former boarding school of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate established on the Kamloops reserve in British Columbia. We first spoke of a mass grave, a new denial, but which has remained in our imagination, then of anonymous graves, which has not yet been proven.
Indeed, we have no physical evidence for this alleged discovery, as ground penetrating radar is a technology that does not directly identify human remains. According to the anthropologist who did the research, only an excavation would be conclusive. But the local indigenous community is divided on the subject and it is seriously doubtful that any excavations can take place. Who then will establish the veracity of the facts?
According to the Canadian Center for Truth and Reconciliation, 51 students died during the school’s 80-year history. Thanks to the research of historian Jacques Rouillard, we now know the burial places of more than half of these children, according to the information available. Four of them are buried in Kamloops in the cemetery of their reservation located not far from the boarding school, which raises the question of the existence of another secret burial site. Twenty-four other children are buried in their own reserve cemetery. The historian was able to consult the death certificates kept in the registers of civil status in the province. These children are therefore not missing. How can we believe then that the remains of 200 children could have been buried near the school, without the knowledge of the families and the band council?
Since the Kamloops announcement, Indigenous groups have reported hundreds of unmarked graves “discovered” by georadar in abandoned and previously known cemeteries. In the case of the Oblate residential school in Marieval, Saskatchewan, the 750 graves were of people of all ages, many of whom were non-Aboriginal, a CBC reporter’s investigation revealed. A certain indigenous lobby raises the specter of the “disappearance” of thousands of children. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called the existence of residential schools “cultural genocide,” but never spoke of physical genocide.
If children are missing, is it not because the federal Department of Indian Affairs refused to pay the costs to repatriate the bodies to the reservations, thus preventing the families from burying them at home? The Trudeau government, already steeped in repentance, must bear the consequences of this odious policy. And let’s not forget that the colonial residential school system was created and funded by the Canadian state to assimilate these children.
The sufferings, struggles and resilience of Indigenous peoples can only inspire the greatest kindness. But excessive victimization will not help their cause, which is also ours: truth and reconciliation. Isn’t the best path to reconciliation to seek and know the whole truth? The media, whose mission it is, must help us get to the bottom of things.