Canadian Indian residential school gravesites

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The Canadian Indian residential school system^{[nb 1]} was a network of boarding schools for Indigenous children directed and funded by the Department of Indian Affairs.^[2] "A genocidal policy, operated jointly by the federal government of Canada and the Catholic, Anglican, United, and Presbyterian Churches... rife with disease, malnutrition, poor ventilation, poor heating, neglect, and death," between 1828 to 1997 the Canadian Indian residential school system's goal was "assimilating First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children into white settler society".^[3][4] Over 4,000 students died while attending Canadian residential school.^[5] Students' bodies were often buried in school cemeteries to keep costs as low as possible.^[6] Comparatively few cemeteries associated with residential schools are explicitly referenced in surviving documents, but the age and duration of the schools suggests that most had a cemetery associated with them.^[7] Many cemeteries were unregistered, and as such the locations of many burial sites and names of residential school children have been lost.^[8]

Some individuals engage in denialism about the existence of some or all residential school burial sites.^[9][10] Indigenous groups and academics dismiss such denials.^[9][11] Federal Justice Minister David Lametti said in 2023 that he was open to outlawing residential school denialism.^[9] His successor, Arif Virani, has not taken a position on the issue.^[12]

The Government of Canada formed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008.^[13] The commission's findings included recognition of past colonial genocide and settlement agreements.^[14] In October 2022, the House of Commons of Canada unanimously passed a motion calling on the federal Canadian government to recognize the residential school system as genocide.^[15][16] This acknowledgment was followed by a visit by Pope Francis, who apologized for Church members' roles in the genocide.^[17] Beginning in June 2021, there was a series of arsons and other acts of vandalism against Christian churches that law enforcement, politicians, and tribal officials speculated was spurred by anger towards Christians over the schools and gravesites.

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