Canadian Newspaper: No Proof of Mass Grave at Boarding School

A prominent Canadian newspaper has admitted that initial reports regarding the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School were not substantiated by evidence at the time. The Globe and Mail acknowledged that media outlets, including itself, failed to critically question the claim when it gained international attention in 2021.

"The media, including The Globe and Mail, did not initially approach the claim critically and did not challenge it at all," the newspaper stated in an editorial. The initial reports, which declared the finding of the children's remains as fact, originated from a press release by a Canadian First Nations community. However, the newspaper now clarifies that this release did not explicitly state that a "mass grave" had been found.

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The media, including The Globe and Mail, did not initially approach the claim critically and did not challenge it at all.

At the time, radar technology had detected "underground irregularities" at the former school site. While these anomalies could suggest the presence of unmarked graves, they did not constitute proof. The Globe and Mail noted that it might be proven one day that hundreds of unmarked graves exist at Kamloops, but this was not the case in May 2021, nor is it proven today.

In the months following the Kamloops report, further claims emerged about hundreds of other graves at different residential schools across Canada. It remains unclear if these subsequent claims have been definitively proven. The residential school system, which aimed to assimilate Indigenous children into Western culture, operated for decades, with the Catholic Church running some of these institutions. Pope Francis visited Canada in 2022 to apologize for abuses that occurred at these schools. The unsubstantiated reports of mass graves in 2021 led to the burning of at least 33 churches in Canada.

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It may be that one day it will be proven that there are hundreds of unmarked graves in Kamloops. But it was not proven in May 2021. And it is not proven today.