The remains of 215 children were found near a residential school in Canada this week.
The Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community announced the discovery near the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada late Thursday, saying the discovery of what are believed to be missing children was an “unthinkable loss that was spoken about but never documented.”
“We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify. To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths,” stated Chief Rosanne Casimir.
“Some were as young as three years old. We sought out a way to confirm that knowing out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families, understanding that Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc is the final resting place of these children,” the community said in a statement.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School was at one time one of the largest in Canada before it was closed in the late 1970s and ultimately turned into a museum.
Thousands of children, most of whom were Indigenous, were separated from their families and forced to attend such schools. A haunting report from the Canadian government released in 2015 detailed physical, sexual and emotional abuse some of the children suffered.
“The news that remains were found at the former Kamloops residential school breaks my heart – it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country’s history. I am thinking about everyone affected by this distressing news. We are here for you,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted Friday.