Alleged mass grave of indigenous children at Catholic schools across Canada contains NO BODIES, excavation shows – as experts suggest it’s proof the stories were fabricated

By James On Aug 31, 2023

Doubts are growing over the scale of historic abuses at Canada’s notorious residential schools for Indigenous children after an excavation at one of the country’s most high-profile sites turned up no bodies.

The country has awarded hundreds of millions in damages and declared the treatment of children a “cultural genocide” in the schools that took indigenous youth away from their families for much of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Ground penetrating teams claim to have found mass graves over the past two years containing the remains of more than 1,000 children buried in secret.

But no bodies have been recovered since then, and investigators have confirmed none were found during a four-week dig at the former Pine Creek Residential School in Manitoba, where more than 60 are believed to have been hidden.

“People believe things that aren’t true or improbable and they continue to believe it even when no evidence turns up,” said Tom Flanagan, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Calgary.

215 pairs of children’s shoes are on display on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery as a memorial to the 215 children whose remains were reportedly found on the site of the Kamloops School in British Columbia

Children in the residential schools were forbidden to speak their own language or practice their customs

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Indigenous people that ‘the pain and trauma you feel is Canada’s responsibility to bear’

“People seem to be doubling down on their belief that something happened.”

The country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded in 2015 that between 3,000 and 6,000 children died in school, mostly from disease.

Former students told the commission they were forcibly removed from their families, banned from speaking their native language and often subjected to physical or sexual abuse at 130 schools serving more than 150,000 students.

Pope Francis met with survivors in 2021 and apologized for the Catholic Church’s involvement in three quarters of the 130 schools.

And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged “Canada’s responsibility” in 2021 after an investigation found 751 unmarked graves in a cemetery near the former Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan.

“This was a crime against humanity, an attack on First Nations,” said Bobby Cameron, head of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous First Nations in Saskatchewan.

“We will not stop until we find all the bodies,” he added.

The discovery came just weeks after another 215 children were found buried on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, sending Canada into a wave of disgust.

The vandalism occurred after a group of protesters gathered outside Manitoba’s legislature on Canada Day — an annual July 1 celebration that marks the country’s confederation.

The defaced statue after it was toppled in a rally, following the reported discovery of the remains of hundreds of children at former Indigenous residential schools

A protester places a boot on the fallen statue of Queen Victoria in Winnipeg

Red handprints were defaced on the statue of Captain James Cook, who was branded a ‘coloniser’

Statues of Britain’s Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II and explorer Captain James Cook were toppled and vandalized during protests across the country on the National Day, with some daubed with red paint and symbolically strangled with the Mohawk flag. 9750001

But no bodies were recovered at the sites, and Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation admitted the numbers may be an exaggeration.

Residential Schools in Canada: A Shocking History of Abuse

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families between 1863 and 1998 and placed in residential schools.

The system was created in the 19th century by Christian churches and the Canadian government in an effort to “assimilate” and convert Indigenous youth to Canadian society.

There they were not allowed to speak their own language or their traditional practices.

In 2008, the Canadian federal government formally apologized for the practice and established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The study found that at least 4,100 students died while attending the schools, many from abuse or neglect.

Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malnutrition and accidents were also common causes of death in the schools.

The Commission on the Abuse of Indigenous Children released horror stories of sexual and physical abuse and neglect.

Many of those who survived the schools suffered from chronic illnesses and disabilities.

The commission’s report, released in 2015, admitted the policy was “cultural genocide.”

It founded the Missing Children Project to document the thousands of children who died while attending the schools.

The project had found 4100 before the latest discovery in Kamloops.

“This is not a mass grave, these are unmarked graves,” he told a news conference.

“In 1960 there may have been markings on these graves, the representatives of the Catholic Church removed these headstones and today they are unmarked graves.

“We cannot confirm that they are all children, there are oral accounts that there are adults in this grave, some from our local towns, and that they could have been buried here as well.

“We’re going to put names on these unmarked graves.”

James McCrae, Manitoba’s former attorney general, resigned from a government panel in May after his skepticism infuriated some indigenous groups.

“The evidence does not support the horrific story that has been advanced around the world for several years now, one for which verifiable evidence is sparse or even non-existent,” he wrote.

McCrae resigned from his position on a government panel in May after his views on residential schools infuriated Indigenous groups and other activists and politicians.

The issue has polarized Canadian society, with research head Kimberley Murray accusing skeptics of desecrating graves by organizing excavations themselves at suspicious sites.

This week she called on Attorney General David Lametti to criminalize ‘denial’

“I think we need to send a message that it’s not okay,” Ms Murray told The Globe and mail.

“It is also necessary to make it very clear that people cannot incite hatred against survivors.”

Professor Flanagan likened the issue to the “moral panic” over repressed memories and supposed satanic cults, and University of Montreal history professor Jacques Rouillard said the true extent of the horror is still unknown.

“I don’t like using the word hoax because it’s too strong, but there are also too many untruths circulating on this issue without any evidence,” he added.

“This has all been very dark for Canada. We need more digs so we can get to the truth.

“Too much has been said and decided before there was any evidence.”