Today is another heavy day in Canada.
CW/TW: residential schools, genocide, religion.
For those of you who may be unaware, Canada has it’s own very recent history of genocide. This history has been known but unacknowledged by the government and religious groups responsible for too long. Now the extent of this tragedy is becoming more apparent to the rest of the world as we find the bodies of indigenous children who died while at residential schools in the “care” of government and religious groups.
In the next several months they will find more and more unmarked children’s graves using ground penetrating radar at the sites of these schools.
This is not ancient history. The last residential school in the province I live in now, closed in 1996. The families that these children were stolen from are very much still alive, as are the survivors of these schools. There is work being done to identify and bring the children home.
You can help by offering support to the indigenous people in your life; we will continue to see more emotional and triggering news in the coming months.
As the number of graves discovered increases we need to remember that they aren’t just numbers, they are children and siblings and cousins.
You can also choose to wear orange on July 1st (“Canada day”) in solidarity with the survivors and victims of residential schools. This is not a year we should be celebrating Canada, this is a year for mourning and justice.
Residential school crisis line:
1-800-721-0066
Métis crisis line:
1-833-638-4722
751 unmarked graves found at former Saskatchewan residential school
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