More unmarked graves are likely to be found at Aboriginal school in Canada

In yet another shocking discovery about “cultural genocide” in Canada, a group of Indigenous people unearths evidence of possible unmarked graves and a fragment of a child’s jawbone on the grounds of a former boarding school.

The Star Blanket Cree community said Thursday in Lippert, western Saskatchewan, that ground-penetrating radar has detected nearly “2,000 areas of interest” that must be thoroughly investigated.

Over the past year and a half, more than 1,300 graves of children have been found near government-run compulsory boarding schools where Indigenous children were forcibly absorbed.

The shocking discoveries sent shock waves across Canada and heightened national awareness of the dark past of how Indigenous peoples were treated.

Lebret is located 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan.

Sheldon Poitras, who led the search, said an exact figure for the number of graves is not yet possible because not every “area” containing human remains is necessarily present.

Poitras and his team also discovered a fragment of a child’s jawbone dating to about 125 years old, Poitras noted, which is “physical evidence of an unmarked grave.”

“Our hearts are heavy today,” said Michael Starr, community leader. “It was unimaginable.”

The research areas near the Catholic-run residential school, which was open until 1998, were chosen on the advice of former students.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the announcement “difficult” and admitted that “the work is just beginning,” promising government assistance throughout the investigation.

“The finding of the human remains of a very young boy at the LeapRate residential school site is not only a tragic reminder of Canada’s painful history and the heinous acts committed in boarding schools, it is further evidence of that,” said Mark Miller. Minister of Indigenous Relations Crown Prince.

Between the late 19th century and the 1990s, some 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly enrolled in 139 boarding schools across the country, where they were cut off from their families, language, and culture.

Thousands never returned.

A national commission of inquiry in 2015 called the regime “cultural genocide.”

Pope Francis traveled to Canada last year and apologized to indigenous leaders for what he called the “evil” perpetrated in Catholic-run boarding schools in the country.