Yet another 182 bodies of children buried in unmarked graves near the Catholic Church-run residential schools for the indigenous children in Canada have been found, bringing the total to over 1,000. From the 19th Century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian boarding schools, mostly run by the Catholic Church, in an effort to “assimilate them into Canadian society,” AP reports. Some of the schools continued into the 1990s. The disappearance of the children was exposed in a 1998 report, but the bodies are now being searched for with a technology which identifies bodies underground.
On Tuesday, it was announced that a group of Indigenous leaders will visit the Vatican in December to meet Pope Francis, who is supposed to apologize.
The Canadian government formally apologized for the policy and abuses in 2008. In addition, the Presbyterian, Anglican, and United churches have apologized for their roles in the abuse.
Twelve churches in Canada have been torched in the last 10 days, attacks thought to be arson in retaliation for the genocide.
