A First Nations community in western Canada has announced the discovery of at least 160 unmarked graves close to a former residential school – the latest in a series of grim announcements from across the country in recent weeks.
Members of the Penelakut Tribe in south-western British Columbia said in a statement late on Monday that the graves had been discovered near the site of the Kuper Island industrial school on Penelakut Island, nearly 90km north of the provincial capital Victoria.
“We understand that many of our brothers and sisters from our neighbouring communities attended the Kuper Island industrial school. We also recognized with a tremendous amount of grief and loss that too many did not return home,” said chief Joan Brown in the statement.
Kuper Island school, operated by the Catholic church, was open from 1890 to 1975 and gained notoriety as a dangerous institution. Two sisters drowned while trying to flee the school in the 1950s, and another student died by suicide in 1966. Former employee Glenn Doughty, who worked at the school from 1967 to 1986, was convicted of sexually abusing students in 2002.
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