The City of Burnaby has lowered its flags to half-mast after the bodies of 215 children were found buried at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.
Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation said in a news release on May 27 that the remains were confirmed with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist.
Casimir called the discovery an "unthinkable loss that was spoken about but never documented at the Kamloops Indian Residential School."
She said it’s believed the deaths are undocumented, although a local museum archivist is working with the Royal British Columbia Museum to see if any records of the deaths can be found.
Some of the children were as young as three, she said.
The school was once the largest in Canada’s residential school system.
On Monday, the City of Burnaby lowered its flags at city hall and they will stay lowered for 215 hours, one for each child.
"We are deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the recent confirmation of the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (t’kem-loops te shay-wep-mehk)," Mayor Mike Hurley said at last night's council meeting (May 31).
"And while we acknowledge the shock, horror, and grief of people living in Burnaby, we know that now is a time to elevate the voices of Indian Residential School survivors and their families, and take to heart what they have been telling us for decades, because they are not shocked.
"They have spoken for years of lost family members and schoolmates, and of unmarked graves at the school sites. And they have collectively told us these stories during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which in turn told Canadians of these events in its final report in 2015."
Flags are also half-mast at Burnaby schools until further notice, with staff and students being invited to wear orange this week.
After hearing the news about the discovery, local school officials connected with Indigenous elders and other members of the local Indigenous community to ask for guidance on how best to “come together, provide space to heal, and mourn alongside one another."
In 2016, the City of Burnaby started its own journey, and with the "determined" efforts of city staff, we have been moving forward, Hurley said.
"But we know we can and must do more to recognize and speak the Truths shared with us, and to act in ways which establish and maintain relationships with local First Nations and the Indigenous people living here.
"We encourage the citizens of Burnaby to learn more about these events, by reading the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, by studying the 94 Calls to Action, and hopefully by finding meaningful ways to act and to support those called to act.
"Burnaby Council and City Staff are here to listen, but more than that, to be accountable in honouring the memories of the children, and supporting survivors and their families by making much-needed changes to advance relationships with the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities."
Burnaby South MP and NDP Leader says Jagmeet Singh said Monday that he wants more action than flags being lowered.
Federal New Democrats are calling for an emergency debate in the House of Commons
NDP Leader Singh says the government has not done enough to implement the 94 calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which released its findings six years ago following years of study into residential schools.
A number of the commission's calls to action focus on the horrors inflicted on children and made recommendations on how governments, justice systems and church officials should try to locate, name and commemorate those who died.
Singh says it is not good enough for the Liberal government to offer platitudes and make symbolic gestures, such as lowering flags on Parliament Hill to half-mast.
He wants the government to do more, working in partnership with First Nations communities, to investigate and fully fund identification of other sites where children were buried in unmarked graves.
When asked about his message to families mourning the loss of their children, Singh paused for a long time at his podium, tears in his eyes, replying only that he is sorry and will fight for justice for these families.
- With files from The Canadian Press, Chris Campbell, Cornelia Naylor, Burnaby Now
