Nelson, Canada, Jul 1, 2021 / 13:01 pm
The discovery of 182 additional undocumented graves outside a former residential school in Canada has heightened calls to boycott Canada Day, the nation’s independence day celebrated on July 1.
The most recent discovery was achieved through the use of ground-penetrating radar outside St. Eugene’s school near Cranbrook, British Columbia. The local indigenous nation, the Lower Kootenay Band, has said it is too early to say if the graves, which were originally marked with wooden crosses, belonged to former students of the school.
A reckoning over Canada’s residential schools began this spring when at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, the remains of 215 indigenous children were discovered on the weekend of May 22 with ground-penetrating radar. It remains unclear when or how the children died.
Bishop Gregory Bittman of Nelson, which includes the former St. Eugene’s school, has not yet commented specifically on Wednesday’s discovery, but issued a statement upon the discovery in Kamloops.