751 Children's bodies in unmarked graves in Cowessess First Nation, SK, Canada

by Gregory Scofield

There is nothing more to be said, at least by me, about the “new” discovery of yet more bodies — 751 — to be found at the Marieval Indian Residential School on Cowessess FN in southern Saskatchewan. 

Indigenous people knew this day was coming, and Indigenous people across this county know there are more days like this to come. 

While Canadians sit with their shock, absorbing the latest news and numbers, Indigenous people hold an inexplicable grief. We sleep with it. We wake to it. We walk with it throughout the day. We carry it into dreams. This grief is a part of Indigenous reality. This reality lives in the bodies of every survivor. It lives in the bodies of their children, their grandchildren, their great grandchildren. It lives in communities and urban centres. It’s always been reality. 

And yet, there will be more days like this.

For settler and Immigrant Canadians, if you’re not angry tonight then you should be. You should be angry at the dirt beneath your feet, the bodies buried beneath them. You should be angry that your teachers, your parents, your grandparents, your government officials, your history books didn’t teach you about the genocide in this land you call home. You should be angry that you live in lands and territories where the unmarked graves of children lie waiting to be taken home.

Indigenous people know this grief, this anger.
And yet, there will be more days like this.
I began by saying there was nothing more to be said. I was wrong.
There is a lot to say.
There is a lot the Canadian government must say.
There is a lot the churches and Vatican must say.
And there is a lot survivors must say. But there is also a lot survivors must hear from all those I’ve just mentioned.
There will will more days like this. 

For survivors, for their children, for their grandchildren, for their great grandchildren.
Canadians, if you’re not angry tonight then you should be. 

My heart, my prayers go out to the community of Cowessess. May your babies find their way home. Finally.

The Indian Residential School Survivors Society toll free: 1 (800) 721-0066 or 24hr Crisis Line 1 (866) 925-4419 if you require further emotional support or assistance.

Wizard's note: I am shocked at this. How the hell could this have happened. I am ashamed of Canada past, but this needs to be talked about.