WORLD NEWS

Canada indigenous group says 751 graves found at former residential school

'This is not a mass grave site. These are unmarked graves,' says indigenous group chief

The school operated from 1899 to 1996. Illustration / AA

H. J. I. / AA

Hundreds of unmarked graves have been found at a former Indian residential school in western Canada, the Cowessess First Nations Chief Cadmus Delorme said Thursday.

About 751 were discovered at the Marieval Indian Residential School in the province of Saskatchewan. The school operated from 1899 to 1996.

-This is not a mass grave site. These are unmarked graves- said Delorme at a virtual news conference.

It is the second such discovery in recent weeks, with 215 unmarked children's graves found at another residential school. First Nations children were taken from their families and forced to attend the schools beginning in the 1820s, where officials tried to obliterate their culture.

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