Canadians were horrified when they heard that 215 unmarked graves of murdered and missing Indigenous students had been discovered on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School (IRS) in the Spring of 2021.
Since that announcement, hundreds, if not thousands, of news reports have been published about murdered Indigenous children and mass, unmarked graves discovered in the yards of many Canadian residential schools. The New York Times, for example, titled its first article “‘Horrible History’: Mass Graves of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada.”
Many people around the world believed these reports, implying that residential school employees, many of whom were Christians, and a substantial number were Indigenous, had engaged in the genocide of Indigenous children. As a result of these reports, over 80 churches, across the country, were vandalized or set on fire. Many of the desecrated churches belonged to denominations that did not manage any residential schools.
Read the full essay here: What is Missing From the Missing Children’s Story at Indian Residential Schools
Rodney A. Clifton is a professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Winnipeg.
