The Remains Of 215 Indigenous Children Have Been Found At A Former School In Canada : NPR - 0 views
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The remains of 215 children, including some as young as three, have been found in a mass grave on the grounds of a former residential school that was once part of a nationwide effort in Canada to separate Indigenous children from their families in an attempt to assimilate them.
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The residential school system in Canada served as mandatory boarding schools for indigenous youth and were run by churches and the federal government for more than 150 years during the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Conditions at the schools were poor. Children were often not allowed to speak their own language and received harsh punishment if they did. Many suffered physical and sexual abuse, with staff not being held accountable.
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In 2015, a National Center for Truth and Reconciliation report estimated that more than 150,000 children attended these schools and more than 6,000 died, never returning home.
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The report said the residential schools were "a systematic, government- sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples."