Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that his government will take further action in response to the discovery of the remains of 215 children in a former residential school in Kamloops city in western Canada.
Amid calls for accountability and to go beyond lowering flags at federal buildings, Trudeau told a press conference that Canada's Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal will discuss what role his government should be playing.
On Thursday, the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in Kamloops city in British Columbia province announced that ground-penetrating radar uncovered the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.
The horrific discovery prompted calls for a national day of mourning and saw people across Canada set up memorials.
"As a dad, I can't imagine what it would feel like to have my kids taken away from me, and as prime minister, I am appalled by the shameful policy that stole Indigenous children from their communities," said Trudeau.
"We promised concrete action, and that's how we'll support survivors, families, and Indigenous peoples," said the prime minister.
"Sadly, this is not an exception or an isolated incident. We're not going to hide from that. We have to acknowledge the truth. Residential schools were a reality, a tragedy that existed here, in our country, and we have to own up to it," added Trudeau.
Opposition MPs urged the Trudeau government to fully fund the investigation of other former residential school sites and to put more sustainable funding towards healing initiatives.
Green Party Leader Annamie Paul said the terrible discovery once again highlights "the absolute genocidal tragedy of our residential school system," calling on the Trudeau government to demand the Catholic church apologize for its role in the residential school system.
In 2015, Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued its final report on the inhumane mistreatment inflicted on Indigenous children at residential schools, concluding that they constituted a cultural genocide.
The commission's register of confirmed deaths identified 3,200 students but work is still ongoing to uncover what could be thousands of more deaths that went undocumented.
More than 150,000 indigenous children were reportedly forced into residential schools between the 1870s and 1996. The last residential school closed in 1996.
