As the Malahat Nation announced their Every Child Matters March this morning, news broke that 751 unmarked graves were discovered in Saskatchewan less than a month after the discovery of 215 human remains at a Kamloops residential school.
On Thursday, June 23rd, 751 possible unmarked graves were discovered at a former Saskatchewan residential school.
The findings occurred on the grounds of the Cowessess First Nation, located 164 kilometres east of Regina.
Radar scanning the school grounds of Marieval residential school began on June 1st.
The Marieval residential school operated from 1898 to 1996 in the Qu’Appelle Valley; it was run by the Roman Catholic Church until Cowessess First Nation took over its operations in 1981.
Every Child Matters March
To raise awareness of the residential school experience, Malahat Nations’ Every Child Matters March will begin Friday, June 25th.
The March will begin at 9:30 a.m. from Big House located at 1 Longhouse Road on Malahat Nation land where it will make its way up Mill Bay Road and then to the Trans Canada Highway and back again.
Participants are invited to wear orange in honour of residential school victims and as a symbol of commitment to the ongoing process of reconciliation.
“The purpose of this March is to peacefully come together as a community to raise awareness for the growing number of mass graves that have been discovered on various residential school grounds and to acknowledge the impact that residential schools have had and continue to have on indigenous peoples,” a representative for Malahat Nation told Victoria Buzz.
Research into Residential School System
Since the discovery of the 215 human remains at a former residential school in Kamloops in late May, Canada invested $27 million into the investigation of former residential school sites to locate children who died at residential schools.
Earlier this week, $5 million was dedicated to research at residential schools in Saskatchewan.
In BC, The Royal BC Museum announced on Wednesday that it was working as a neutral third party with the Sisters of St. Ann’s and the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at UBC.
The Sisters of St. Ann’s, an order of Catholic nuns that taught at four residential schools in Canada, including the Kamloops Indian Residential School, signed a memorandum of understanding to provide private archival information to the IRSHDC.
Every Child Matters March
When: 9:30 a.m., June 25th
Where: 1 Longhouse Road
The Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll free line is: 1 (800) 721-0066.
A 24-hour crisis line for residential school survivors is: 1 (866) 925-4419 if you require further emotional support or assistance.
