CW/TW residential school children
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In light of the false reports circulating on social media about 1100 children found at Blue Quills, a thread about numbers and graves associated with residential schools from someone on the ground doing this work.
#residentialschools
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In light of the false reports circulating on social media about 1100 children found at Blue Quills, a thread about numbers and graves associated with residential schools from someone on the ground doing this work.
#residentialschools
There have been images circulating with larger and larger counts. Most communities are just beginning the journey to search around their schools and are taking time to engage with the survivors, Elders, and families to discuss how to proceed. This is a necessary step.
When you see numbers circulating, I encourage folks to go to the source of the information. Indigenous communities who have done this work and have chosen to share the results will have done so formally. Amplify what they are saying.
When I saw the numbers from Blue Quills, my immediate thought was of survivors and their families. Imagine what a survivor of Blue Quills would have felt seeing that number when they had not been told about the process.
There is a real danger in this becoming a numbers game. Every child who didn't come home from residential "schools" is a tragedy. You don't have to have hundreds of graves for this to matter; one grave is too many.
What do we know right now about numbers? The national register of missing children at the @NCTR_UM as of today has 4124 children who never came home from residential school and this number is expected to grow.
Some of the results of ground-penetrating radar surveys at schools have indicated numbers of likely graves. Some of these may overlap with the children in the register - more work will need to be done to find out how many.
Some communities have released results from ground-penetrating radar. GPR indicates areas where graves may be present by looking for changes in the soil. It cannot detect bodies or remains. There are some cases where graves are clear, others where there is more uncertainty.
Very few schools has had their grounds completely searched, so the numbers of estimated graves are incomplete. For example, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc has said they have 160 acres left to search, so more probable graves may be found.
Not all the numbers from communities are of children who died at residential school. For example, the results from Cowessess First Nation graveyard included mix of locals and residents of nearby communities, not just from residential schools.
Most of the numbers that have been released this summer are from work that has been ongoing for a long time; in some cases, more than a decade. I know communities are anxious for answers, but this is a process that should not be rushed.
The truth of what happened to the Indigenous children who never came home must be told and those responsible for their deaths must be held to account. But the work to find the truth will take time, care, and patience.
#TruthFirst
#215children
#TruthFirst
#215children
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