They found 182 other anonymous graves at a residential school for Indigenous children in Canada and the remains of minors found amount to 1,100

At least 182 unidentified graves have been found on the grounds of a school residence in western Canada., bringing to more than 1,100 the remains of indigenous minors found in recent weeks, an indigenous Canadian group announced on Wednesday.

The anonymous graves were located in the former residence of the St. Eugene Mission School in the province of British Columbia, in western Canada, the Lower Kootenay group said.

This discovery comes on top of that at the end of May when the Tk’emlúps te secwépemc, another indigenous group in British Columbia, revealed the discovery of the remains of at least 215 Indigenous children in the former Kamloops school residence.

Last week, another native group in western Saskatchewan, the Cowessess, announced that they had found 751 unidentified graves at Marieval Residential School.

For its part, Canadian police on Wednesday reported “suspicious” fires in two churches across the country, with which there are already six destroyed temples in Canada since the discovery of unidentified graves in school residences that were once run by religious orders began.

One of these is the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, built 114 years ago in the town of Morinville, some 3,400 kilometers northwest of Toronto, which was devastated by a “suspicious” fire. which declared itself in the early morning.

The other is St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church, in the far east of the country, in the province of Nova Scotia, which was also destroyed by fire.

Police said the fires were being investigated as possible attacks.

“We are investigating him as a suspect,” Corporal Sheldon Robb of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told AFP, referring to the fire that ravaged the Morinville church.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau told a press conference that the “horrific finds” of anonymous graves have forced Canadians “to reflect on historical injustices and continuing with which indigenous peoples have been confronted ”.

Trudeau urged everyone to participate in the reconciliation, while denouncing vandalism and the burning of churches across the country.

“The destruction of places of worship is not acceptable and must stop,” he said.

“We have to work together to correct the mistakes of the past. Everyone has a role to play ”.

On another side, One of Canada’s main indigenous groups on Wednesday called on the Catholic Church to pay the 25 million Canadian dollars (20 million US dollars) it had offered in compensation in 2006 to the survivors of the country’s school residences. and that you have not yet paid in full.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN), which brings together the 74 indigenous groups in the province of Saskatchewan, has denounced that so far the Catholic Church has offered only a fraction of the initial figure, the equivalent of 0.30 Canadian dollars (0, US $ 24) per survivor.

“Thousands of Indigenous children have been subjected to emotional, physical and sexual abuse in these school residencess. They have been malnourished, humiliated and beaten for speaking their languages ​​and stripped of their culture, traditions and identity, ”FSIN ​​chief Bobby Cameron said in a statement.

“It’s a shame that Catholics can raise millions of dollars to build multi-million dollar cathedrals and only get $ 0.30 for each survivor,” added Cameron, who estimated that if the Church Canadian Catholic can not raise the money, the Vatican should pay compensation.

(With information from EFE)

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