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“The asswipe is like sandpaper. Just like the health care system, I guess. ‘Hey, arseholes – we know this is painful, but we’re your only choice’” (26)

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“You seriously think the hospital provides fair trade coffee?” (27)

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“ANNA finds the tiny crappy box of tissues the hospital provides. She pulls several of them out – wispy, small, and inadequate” (47)

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“Being and sweeping and cold hands handling you. Dousing themselves in sanitizer before and afterwards” (33)

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“ANNA: This whole building – country! Is a construct of Christian capitalism” (53)

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“ANNA: Records were destroyed, Rae. People were hired to destroy tons of records […]

ANNA: You didn’t fail. The world has failed us” (89)

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“MOM: Nothing they did to us was accidental" (44)

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“RAE: Government paying to keep an Indian alive.

MOM: Indian woman!

They laugh.

MOM: First time for everything” (93)

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An Indigenous community says it has found evidence that 215 children were buried on the grounds of a British Columbia school, one of the many in Canada set up to forcibly assimilate them.

The former Kamloops Indian Residential School.. Credit... Andrew Snucins/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press

OTTAWA - For decades, most Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their families and forced into boarding schools. A large number never returned home, their families given only vague explanations, or none at all.

Now an Indigenous community in British Columbia says it has found evidence of what happened to some of its missing children: a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children on the grounds of a former residential school.

Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation said on Friday that ground-penetrating radar had discovered the remains near the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, which operated from 1890 until the late 1970s.

"It's a harsh reality and it's our truth, it's our history," Chief Casimir said at a news conference. "And it's something that we've always had to fight to prove. To me, it's always been a horrible, horrible history."

The remains, which Chief Casimir described as "many, many years old - decades," included those of children as young as 3.

Starting in the 19th century, Canada was home to a system of residential schools, mostly operated by churches, that Indigenous children were forced to attend. The system went into decline during the 1970s, with the last school closing in 1996.

A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, concluded that at least 4,100 students died while attending the schools, many from mistreatment or neglect, others from disease or accident. It found that in many cases, families never learned the fate of their offspring, who are now known as the missing children.

While there have long been rumors of unmarked graves at schools, if the findings in a preliminary report presented to the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation this week are confirmed, it will be the first time a major burial site has been discovered.

Kamloops, once the largest residential school in Canada, with about 500 pupils at its peak, was operated by the Catholic Church until 1969, when the federal government took over.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School in 1937. Credit... Archdiocese of Vancouver

"The pain that such news causes reminds us of our ongoing need to bring to light every tragic situation that occurred in residential schools run by the Church," Archbishop J. Michael Miller of the Vancouver Archdiocese said in a statement. "The passage of time does not erase the suffering."

In 2015, the archbishop issued a letter repeating the archdiocese's apology for the role the church played in the federal government's residential school policy.

But in 2018, Pope Francis rejected a direct appeal for an apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Bishop Lionel Gendron, who is president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote in an open letter to Canada's Indigenous people an explanation for the pope's refusal to apologize. "After carefully considering the request and extensive dialogue with the Bishops of Canada, he felt that he could not personally respond," Bishop Gendron wrote.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in 2015 that residential schools were a program of "cultural genocide." The use of Indigenous languages was banned at the schools, sometimes through the use of violence, as were Indigenous cultural practices.

The commission found evidence of neglect and maltreatment spanning decades at Kamloops. In 1918, a government official who inspected the school reported his "suspicion that the vitality of the children is not sufficiently sustained from a lack of nutritious food."

Geraldine Bob, a former student, told the commission that the staff members "would just start beating you and lose control and hurl you against the wall, throw you on the floor, kick you, punch you."

Chief Casimir said the search for remains at Kamloops began in the early 2000s, in part because official explanations - including suggestions that the missing children had simply run away - did not match with the stories conveyed by former students.

Indigenous Children Vanished in Canada

The remains of what are presumed to be Indigenous children have been discovered at the sites of defunct boarding schools in Canada. Here's what you should know:

Background:Around 1883, Indigenous children in many parts of Canada were forced to attend residential schools in a forced assimilation program. Most of these schools were operated by churches, and all of them banned the use of Indigenous languages and Indigenous cultural practices, often through violence. Disease, as well as sexual, physical and emotional abuse were widespread. An estimated 150,000 children passed through the schools between their opening and their closing in 1996.

The Missing Children: A National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, set up as part of a government apology and settlement over the schools, concluded that at least 4,100 students died while attending them, many from mistreatment or neglect, others from disease or accident. In many cases, families never learned the fate of their offspring, who are now known as "the missing children."

The Discoveries: In May, members of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation found 215 bodies at the Kamloops school - which was operated by the Roman Catholic Church until 1969 - after bringing in ground-penetrating radar. In June, an Indigenous group said the remains of as many as 751 people, mainly children, had been found in unmarked graves on the site of a former boarding school in Saskatchewan.

Cultural Genocide: In a 2015 report, the commission concluded that the system was a form of "cultural genocide." Murray Sinclair, a former judge and senator who headed the commission, recently said he now believed the number of disappeared children was "well beyond 10,000."

Apologies and Next Steps: The commission called for an apology from the pope for the Roman Catholic church's role. Pope Francis stopped short of one, but the archbishop of Vancouver apologized on behalf of his archdiocese. Canada has formally apologized and offered financial and other search support, but Indigenous leaders believe the government still has a long way to go.

"There had to be more to the story," she said. "It's about bringing in the advanced technology today to be able to look beneath the surface of the soil and to confirm some of the stories that were once told."

She said that the radar scanning is not yet complete. "We have not done all our grounds, and we do know that there is still more to be discovered," Chief Casimir said.

"The loss of 215 children found on the grounds of a residential school is a national tragedy," Chief Bobby Cameron of the Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations in Saskatchewan said in a statement. He asked the federal government to work with Indigenous groups on researching the fates of missing children.

The office of Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister responsible for Indigenous relations, said in a statement that the "discovery reflects a dark and painful chapter in our country's history." Her department and health officials in British Columbia will set up support services for the First Nation, it said.

Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner of British Columbia, said in an email that her office had been told of the radar findings on Thursday. "We are early in the process of gathering information and will continue to work collaboratively with the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and others as this sensitive work progresses," she said.

John Horgan, the premier of British Columbia, said that he was "horrified and heartbroken" and that he supported the efforts of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc to bring to "light the full extent of this loss."

Indigenous communities throughout Canada, ChiefCasimir said, had children who were forced into residential schools only to vanish.

"Many other First Nations who had residential schools within their communities also want to learn and want to use new technology to be able to find their loved ones," she said. "It is definitely an honor to be taking care of these children."

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'Horrible History': Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada

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An Indigenous community says it has found evidence that 215 children were buried on the grounds of a British Columbia school, one of the many in Canada set up to forcibly assimilate them. OTTAWA - For decades, most Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their families and forced into boarding schools.

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The 215 children found buried and hidden at Kamloops IRS on the May long weekend of 2021 has shaken many of us anew. The stories of our Elders are true. The stories of survivors are true. From beyond, these children are crying out for recognition.

I'm the daughter of a powerful woman who spent grades 1 through 10 at that very school. She has taught me love. She has always prioritized the protection of others and tender generosity in spite of the state of the world, and in spite of the place that she knew simply as "school."

This play, They Know Not What They Do, is a short work commissioned of Native Earth's Made to Order program by Frank Pio at the Toronto Catholic District School Board. The TCDSB reviewed the script - written to spec, to include multiple experiences of the children who endured IRS - and censored nearly every word. As a result, the production didn't ever take place. It's not a revolutionary piece, it's educational. Perhaps that is what revolutions are made of. Certainly we know revolutions don't happen without our youngsters.

Donna Michelle St. Bernard has included the play in her Indian Act: Residential School Plays printed by Playwrights Canada Press. While I believe most people should own a copy of this book, and that artists must be remunerated (cover art by the incredible Erika Iserhoff,) I am offering my short play here for use in High Schools. While everyone living in the colonized nation of "Canada" ought to learn about IRS's, there is violent death in this work, and ought to be entered into with tender strength, and only by students old enough to cope with the truth of our history and with proper support.

Professionals ought to contact me directly for rights.

Thank you, DM. Thanks to PCP. Thanks to the writers in this anthology. Thanks to the educators who have already worked with this play. Thank you for taking time to invest in these stories that are all too real.

Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc community, thank you for caring for those little spirits and for walking forward with love.

cover art by Erika Iserhoff

For an adult theatrical offering by ARTICLE 11, click here.

This video work is from Reckoning, our triptych response to the TRC and is not suitable for minors.

Reckoning contains graphic historical and contemporary violence.

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Residential School play for High Schools

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The 215 children found buried and hidden at Kamloops IRS on the May long weekend of 2021 has shaken many of us anew. The stories of our Elders are true. The stories of survivors are true. From beyond, these children are crying out for recognition. I'm the daughter of a powerful woman who spent grades...