A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Chile to Cambodia
Continue reading...Category Archives: Indigenous peoples
Burned churches stir deep Indigenous ambivalence over faith of forefathers
After hundreds of unmarked graves were found at Canada’s former Catholic-run residential schools, churches in First Nations territories have been destroyed by suspected arson
For more than a century, the clapboard church set amid rolling hills in western Canada has been a spiritual home to the Upper Similkameen Indian Band.
To build St Anne’s, residents of Chuchuwayha Indian Reserve #2 travelled 40 miles to the closest town, hauling lumber back to their community by horse and wagon.
Continue reading...Queen Victoria statue toppled in Canada over deaths of indigenous children – video
Protesters in Manitoba have pulled down a statue of Queen Victoria outside the state legislature as outrage grows over the discovery of unmarked graves belonging to indigenous children sent to the country’s notorious residential schools. A smaller statue of Elizabeth II was also toppled on the east side of the grounds. Both royals are seen as representative of the country’s colonial history
Continue reading...Queen Victoria statue toppled in Canada amid anger at deaths of Indigenous children
Smaller statue of Queen Elizabeth also removed in Winnipeg during protest at treatment of Indigenous children in notorious residential schools
A statue of Queen Victoria has been toppled in Canada amid growing outrage over the discovery of unmarked graves belonging to Indigenous children.
A group gathered at the Manitoba legislature pulled down the statue on Canada Day – an annual celebration on 1 July that marks the country’s confederation.
Continue reading...How residential schools in Canada robbed Indigenous children of their identity and lives – video
In Canada, more than 1,000 unmarked graves have been discovered on the grounds of three former church-run residential schools, where an estimated 150,000 First Nations children were sent as part of a campaign of forced assimilation for more than a century until 1996.
On Wednesday, the remains of 182 people were found at a former school in British Columbia – weeks after 215 unmarked graves were found at an institution in the province and 751 in Saskatchewan.
A historic truth and reconciliation commission was conducted in the 2000s. In 2015 it concluded that the residential school system amounted to cultural genocide and that unmarked graves would be found in the former school grounds, but the recent findings still shocked many Canadians and prompted calls for a new investigation. Leyland Cecco explains how the discovery is just the tip of the iceberg in uncovering Canada's traumatic colonial past
Continue reading...Latest First Nations discovery reveals 182 unmarked graves at Canada school
Lower Kootenay Band finds human remains at former residential school in British Columbia – the third such discovery in weeks
A First Nations community in western Canada has discovered the remains of nearly 200 people on the grounds of a former residential school, adding to the growing tally of unmarked graves across the country.
The Lower Kootenay Band said on Wednesday that ground-penetrating radar had revealed 182 human remains at St Eugene’s Mission residential school, near the city of Cranbrook, British Columbia. Some of the remains were buried in shallow graves only three and four feet deep.
Continue reading...My relatives went to a Catholic school for Native children. It was a place of horrors | Nick Estes
After the discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the site of a former school for Native children in Canada, it is time to investigate similar abuses in the US
There is so much mourning Native people have yet to do. The full magnitude of Native suffering has yet to be entirely understood, especially when it comes to the nightmarish legacies of American Indian boarding schools. The purpose of the schools was “civilization”, but, as I have written elsewhere, boarding schools served to provide access to Native land, by breaking up Native families and holding children hostage so their nations would cede more territory. And one of the primary benefactors of the boarding school system is the Catholic church, which is today the world’s largest non-governmental landowner, with roughly 177 million acres of property throughout the globe. Part of the evidence of how exactly the church acquired its wealth in North America is literally being unearthed, and it exists in stories of the Native children whose lives it stole, which includes my own family.
The full magnitude of Native suffering has yet to be entirely understood, especially when it comes to the nightmarish legacies of American Indian boarding schools
Continue reading...Fears for Chilean indigenous leader’s safety after police shooting
Alberto Curamil, an award-winning environmental activist, was seriously injured during a protest against the burning of a Mapuche home
Former recipients of a prestigious environmental award, together with Amnesty International and the lawyer of indigenous land rights defender Alberto Curamil, have launched an appeal for Curamil’s safety after he was seriously injured in a shooting by police.
Curamil, an indigenous Mapuche leader who in 2019 won the Goldman Environmental Prize (GEP), also known as the “green Nobel”, was left with 18 riot shotgun pellets embedded in his body after police chased his truck and opened fire after a protest against an arson attack on a Mapuche home on contested land in southern Chile.
Continue reading...Calls to cancel Canada Day after graves found: ‘Indigenous people paid with their lives’
Two grim discoveries on the grounds of former residential schools have shifted country’s mood as national day looms
Indigenous groups have called for Canada’s national celebration to be cancelled over the discovery of nearly 1,000 unmarked graves, most of which are believed to belong to Indigenous children.
July 1 marks 154 years since Canada became a country – and until recently, festivities in cities across the country were expected, amplified by the arrival of summer and the pent-up excitement of a country emerging from the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Canada has lost its halo: we must confront our Indigenous genocide | Tara Sutton
Hundreds of unmarked graves, and testimonies of countless horrors, belie our angelic self-image
It’s not often that Canadians have to apologise for their country. I’ve travelled the world reporting on conflict and human rights and am always greeted positively when I say I’m Canadian. “It is a beautiful country,” I am told. “Your country cares for its citizens.” In Canada, people make sympathetic noises when I retell whatever tragic story I have been working on. “We are so lucky to live in Canada,” they say.
Canadians like the idea of a “good” country full of “good” people. There’s even a name for it: “the angel complex”. Look at all the immigrants and refugees we welcome here, goes the doctrine – we’re not like those American racists, or those European xenophobes. Canada see itself as proudly multicultural, tolerant, peace-loving and polite. A beacon of light to the world.
Continue reading...The children’s graves at residential schools in Canada evoke the massacres of Indigenous Australians | William Pengarte Tilmouth
Until there is truth-telling in Australia about the colonisation process, reconciliation remains superficial
First Nations people across Australia are mourning with Canadian First Nations families as evidence mounts of hundreds of deaths of children at residential schools.
We are standing with our Canadian First Nations brothers and sisters on these recent horrific discoveries.
Continue reading...Where the buffalo roam: world’s longest wildlife bridge could cross the Mississippi
Conservationist aims to replace old bridge with bison preserve, benefiting environment and spotlighting Indigenous history
Between Iowa and Illinois, spanning the only stretch of the Mississippi River that flows from east to west, sits an exhausted 55-year-old cement bridge. Each day 42,000 cars drive across the ageing structure, which is slated to be torn down and replaced.
But when Chad Pregracke looks at the bridge, he has a different vision entirely – not an old overpass to be demolished, but a home for the buffalo to roam.
Continue reading...Canada must reveal ‘undiscovered truths’ of residential schools to heal
The man who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission insists an independent investigation into decades of abuse of Indigenous children is essential
Canada urgently needs an independent investigation into the deaths of thousands of Indigenous children at church-run residential schools if the country ever hopes to finally confront the horrors of its colonial past, the man who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has told the Guardian.
Murray Sinclair, a former senator and one of the country’s first Indigenous judges, warned that the “undiscovered truths” of the schools are probably far more devastating than many Canadians realize – including the deliberate killing of children by school staff and the likelihood that such crimes were covered up.
Continue reading...Trudeau says Canadians ‘horrified and ashamed’ of forced assimilation
• PM responds to discovery of graves at Indigenous schools
• Trudeau stops short of ordering national investigation
Justin Trudeau has said that Canadians are “horrified and ashamed” by their government’s longtime policy of forcing Indigenous children to attend boarding schools where nearly 1,000 unmarked graves have now been discovered – but stopped short of launching a national investigation.
An estimated 751 unmarked graves were recently discovered on the grounds of the former Marieval Indian residential school in Saskatchewan which operated from 1899 to 1997. Last month, 215 remains were reported at a similar school in British Columbia.
Continue reading...Canada First Nation chiefs ask for reckoning after 751 unmarked graves discovered – video
As many as 751 unmarked graves, some of which are believed to be of First Nation children, were discovered in Canada’s Saskatchewan province just weeks after a similar discovery in British Columbia, prompting a fresh reckoning over the country’s colonial past.
The graves were found on the site of the Roman Catholic Marieval Indian residential school, and Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation has asked for an apology from the pope and the church.
From the 19th century, more than 150,000 First Nations children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a programme to assimilate them into Canadian society, many were beaten and verbally abused, and thousands died from disease, neglect and suicide.
Continue reading...Canada discovers 751 unmarked graves at former residential school
- Graves found at site of Marieval Indian school in Saskatchewan
- Growing calls for Catholic church to confront historical role
A First Nation in Canada’s Saskatchewan province is treating a now-defunct residential school as a “crime scene” following the discovery of 751 unmarked graves just weeks after a similar discovery in British Columbia prompted a fresh reckoning over the country’s colonial past.
Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation said that the graves were found on the site of the Marieval Indian residential school, also known as Grayson, after a search with ground-penetrating radar was launched on 2 June.
Continue reading...Brazil police use teargas and rubber bullets against indigenous protesters
• Three protesters injured and three police hit by arrows
• Congress mulls diluting protection for indigenous territories
Riot police have fired teargas and rubber bullets at indigenous activists protesting outside Brazil’s congress against new legislation that would undermine legal protections for indigenous territories, and open them up to commercial agriculture and mining.
Thick clouds of teargas enveloped the demonstrators, including children and the elderly, as police attempted to clear the camp in Brasília on Tuesday where they have been protesting for the past two weeks.
Continue reading...Riot police use teargas on indigenous protesters for land rights in Brazil – video
Riot police used teargas and rubber bullets to disperse a group of indigenous people protesting on Tuesday outside Brazil's Congress against a bill that lawmakers were about to debate that would undermine the recognition of protected reservation lands. The bill, known as PL 490 and backed by Brazil's powerful farm caucus in Congress, seeks to open up protected indigenous lands to commercial agriculture and mining
White couple who got vaccines meant for First Nation are fined but not jailed
White River First Nation had sought six months in jail for Canadian millionaires Rodney and Ekaterina Baker
The millionaire Canadian couple who chartered a private plane to a remote community and jumped the coronavirus vaccine queue to receive doses intended for elderly Indigenous people have been fined C$2,300 but were not sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to breaking public health rules.
The size of the fine imposed on the former casino executive Rodney Baker and his wife, the actor Ekaterina Baker, on Wednesday prompted frustration amid members of the White River First Nation, many of whom wanted the couple to face stiffer repercussions.
Continue reading...Indigenous Canadians win right to use original names after forced assimilation
Government seeks to atone for historical abuses as new policy comes after discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves
Indigenous people in Canada who were forced to use European names on official documents can now apply to restore their original names, in a new policy unveiled as the country’s government seeks to atone for historical abuses.
“For far too long, Canada’s colonial legacy has disrupted Indigenous peoples’ Indigenous naming practices and family connections from being recognized,” Marc Miller, minister of Indigenous services, said in a statement, adding that the new policy would allow residents to reclaim “the dignity of their Indigenous names”.
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