Tim Leadem

In May 2021, the remains of 215 children were discovered on the grounds of a former residential school near Kamloops, British Columbia.  The gruesome discovery shocked many Canadians and confirmed what many indigenous leaders and people had been telling Canadians for decades-namely, that residential schools, many of which were operated by Christian denominations were and remain a tragedy of misplaced policies that sought to bring indigenous communities within the mainstream of Canadian life.  Instead, residential schools removed children from their homes and parents and became a mechanism for discouraging the culture and language of indigenous communities.  The Truth and Reconciliation Committee of Canada labeled the whole history of residential schools a form of cultural genocide.  The treatment of indigenous people in subjecting them to the trauma of residential schools that started in 1879 and lasted until the mid 1990s is a deep stain upon the Canadian psyche.