Home
international
news
Canadian churches torched and vandalized amid fury as more graves of Indigenous children are discovered at Catholic-run boarding schools

Canadian churches torched and vandalized amid fury as more graves of Indigenous children are discovered at Catholic-run boarding schools

Sophia Ankel

A view of the Roman Catholic St. Jean Baptiste church destroyed by fire in Morinville, Alberta, on July 1, 2021.Amber Bracken/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Churches were burned down and vandalized after the discovery of unmarked graves of Indigenous children in Canada.
Justin Trudeau condemned the attacks but said it was "shameful" that children died in residential schools.
The discoveries prompted national outrage in Canada.

A First Nations community in western Canada announced the discovery of at least 160 unmarked graves close to an ex-residential school run by the Catholic church that closed in 1975.

A view cemetery in Cranbrook, British Columbia on June 30, 2021. Dave Chidley/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Source: The Guardian

The discovery is the latest in a series of similar disturbing finds that have shocked the country in recent weeks.

A statue called "The Children" to honor all of the children who attended Indian Residential schools stands in front of St. Eugene's Mission School in Cranbrook, British Columbia, on June 30, 2021. Dave Chidley/Anadolu Agency via Getty Image

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were sent or forced to attend boarding schools across Canada. The government policy lasted from the 1870s and 1997.

The aim of the campaign was to eradicate the childrens' cultural heritage as Indigenous people and destroy their languages. The schools, established by Christian churches, were notorious for neglect and abuse.

A century-old Catholic church in Alberta burned to the ground earlier this month, officials said.

A view of the Roman Catholic St. Jean Baptiste church destroyed by fire in Morinville, Alberta, on July 1, 2021. Amber Bracken/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Police believe the blaze may have been deliberately set.

Richard Smith, the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton, called the fire "heartrending" and called for empathy for Indigenous communities, the Edmonton Journal reported.

Source: Edmonton Journal

One church in Calgary, Canada had red handprints plastered all over their front walls alongside the words: "We were children."

Paint covers the walls at Saint Bonaventure Catholic Church in Calgary, Canada, on July 3, 2021. Dave Chidley/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Last week, more than two dozen churches across the country were vandalized and burned down.

Maryanne Klaassen looks inside the church doors covered in red paint at Grace Presbyterian Church in Calgary, Canada, on July 3, 2021. Dave Chidley/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Source: The Associated Press

Last month, the discovery of 752 unmarked graves at another site of a former school in Saskatchewan was described as "the most significantly substantial to date in Canada," according to officials.

A memoria near a former residential school in Cranbrook, Canada on June 30, 2021. Dave Chidley/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Source: BBC

The graves are remnants of a dark period of history for Canada.

Hundreds of little orange flags were placed in front of the now toppled statue of Queen Victoria on the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature in Winnipeg, Canada, on July 2, 2021. Daniel Crump/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Towards the end of the 19th century, indigenous children in Canada were forced to attend rCatholic-run residential schools where they were forced into assimilation programs.

Flowers, shoes, and moccasins sit on the steps of the main entrance of The Mohawk Institute in Brantford, Canada, on May 31, 2021. Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images

The children were forced to cut their long hair, were banned from speaking their own Indigenous languages, and were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused, The New York Times reported.

An estimated 150,000 children passed through the school between their opening and their closing in the late 1990's.

An estimated 6,000 died at the schools, although experts believe this number could be much higher, The Guardian reported.

Source: The New York Times

The discoveries have prompted national outrage in Canada.

A man waving the Mohawk Warrior Society flag stands on the pedestal of the toppled statue of Egerton Ryerson, one of the architects of the boarding school system, in Toronto, Canada, on June 6, 2021. Olivier Monnier/AFP via Getty Images

On Canada Day earlier this month, a group of protesters pulled down the statues of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II at the Manitoba legislature in Winnipeg.

People visit the grounds of the Manitoba Legislature Friday morning to see the toppled headless statue of Queen Victoria in Winnipeg, Canada, on July 2, 2021. Daniel Crump/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

In Victoria, British Columbia, a statue of Captain James Cook was dismantled and thrown into the harbor.

Source: The Guardian

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who visited some of the sites in early July, said it was "shameful" that children died because of residential schools.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pauses during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada May 1, 2020. Reuters/Blair Gable

However, he also denounced the church burnings.

"I can't help but think that burning down churches is actually depriving people who are in need of grieving and healing and mourning from places where they can grieve and reflect and look for support," Trudeau told a press conference this week, according to the Associated Press.