85 more children found in unmarked graves in Manitoba

As discoveries of unmarked graves at residential school sites across Canada continue, the remains of 85 children have been discovered at a former residential school, according to a First Nation in Manitoba, Canada.

Cross Lake Band/Pimicikamak Cree Nation announced last week that it has begun investigating the site of St. Joseph's Residential School, a primary residential school that operated in the region for more than a half-century, closing in 1969.

Chief David Monias said that there were originally two residential schools in Cross Lake, and the community knows of at least one mass grave containing the bodies of children who were killed in a fire at one of the buildings.

"It is now our duty to search and locate many of the missing and murdered children from the residential institutions," Monias said in his statement. "We are unsure where they were buried, or if the list we have is an actual record of the true numbers of children who had died in the residential institutions."

Pimicikamak has worked with a researcher to identify the full and partial names of 85 children it believes died while attending the residential schools in the community, also known as Cross Lake. 

The community discovered this information last year. About a dozen of the children documented were referred to only as "boy" or "girl," according to Monias. 

"It was really devastating. We were glad to have (the names), but it triggered a lot of stuff for us … because when you read those things, it has an effect on you," he said.

The community plans to search the site with ground-penetrating radar and to review a database of all students who attended the school between 1912-1969. A permanent monument also is expected to be installed to honor former students.

Monias recognized the apology from Pope Francis for the "deplorable" conduct of the members of the Catholic Church, but he said he would have liked to hear more.

"Although Pope Francis made a historic apology last week, it saddens me he did not acknowledge the unmarked graves of the children who never made it home," said Monias.

On April 1, Pope Francis apologized for the conduct of some members of the Roman Catholic Church relating to Canada's residential school system, following a week of public and private meetings with First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegations, according to CBC News. 

The First Nation is calling on all levels of government, along with Catholic Church authorities, to join the investigation to track down any relevant documentation about the school, its students and any medical information about how they died.

"When you lose an elder, you lose a part of your history and, similarly, when you lose a child, you lose a part of your future," said Monias. "This was the intent of the Canadian government and the religious institutions that were part of the residential school era. It is called genocide."

Manitoba is giving funding to 10 organizations across the province for residential school healing centers.

The discovery of the remains of 215 children at a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, in last May has uncovered what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a "dark and shameful chapter" of the country's history.

More than 150,000 First Nations, Métis and Inuit children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded schools between the 1870s and 1997.  At least 4,100 children died while attending the schools, most due to malnourishment or disease.