UN urges Canada and Vatican urgent probe of school deaths

Canada and the were urged on Friday, June 4, to carry out rapid and exhaustive investigations after the discovery of 215 unmarked graves in a religious boarding school for indigenous children in western Canada.

“We urge the authorities to carry out rapid and exhaustive investigations into the circumstances and responsibilities of the deaths, including forensic analysis of the remains found, and to proceed with the identification and registration of the missing children,” said nine UN experts.

The experts asked Ottawa to carry out similar investigations in all the boarding houses for indigenous people in Canada, indicating that the victims have the right to know the magnitude of all the violations that occurred.

“Justice must carry out criminal investigations on all suspicious deaths and accusations of torture and sexual violence against children taken to pensioners, and prosecute and punish those who perpetrated the crimes and those who hid them and are still alive,” they added.

The experts include special rapporteurs for the rights of indigenous peoples, the exploitation of children, ill-treatment, and the chairman of the working group on enforced disappearances.

“It is inconceivable that Canada and the Holy See leave these heinous crimes without punishment and full reparation,” they noted.

The Kamloops ex-pension in British Columbia was one of 139 establishments installed in the country at the end of the 19th century which existed until the 1990s.

In 2018, Canadian MPs adopted a motion to ask Pope Francis for personal apologies on behalf of the Canadian Catholic Church, following a first rejection by the pontiff, which caused the disappointment of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI had expressed his condemnation for the abuses of indigenous Canadian children – Indians, mestizos and Inuit’s – by the Catholic Church, and denounced the “deplorable” conduct of some members of the clergy.