The Mystery of the 215

Adapted from the BBC News: “A mass grave of 215 children found at Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, that was closed in 1978. Prime Minister Trudeau said it was a “painful reminder” of a “shameful chapter of our country’s history”. Causes and timings of the deaths are not currently known. The loss was never documented by the school administrators.

Kamloop Indian Residential School was the largest in the system. It was opened under Roman Catholic administration in 1890, with as many as 500 students at one time enrolled in the 1950’s. The government took over administration in 1969, operating for local students until 1978. Some of the dead were as young as three years old. Preliminary findings are expected mid June.”

Boarding schools happened in the United States and Canada with the goal of forcibly assimilating indigenous youth. “Kill the Indian, and Save the Man” was a quote from Captain Richard H. Pratt on the Education of Native Americans. Pratt thought reservations created helpless wards of the state. Pratt believed that the only hope for Native American survival was to shed all Native culture and customs and assimilate fully into white American culture. This was the beginning in the United States of killing children in the name of killing the Indian to save the man. Many children died at boarding school or running from boarding school. Pratt was a military man and when the school at Carlisle Indian School Project was developed it was Pratt who was in charge. Many schools were developed from this project. In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a conservative estimate said approximately 4,100 to 6,000 children died amid abuse and neglect while in residential school system, which ran until 1996 in Canada.

So then, what killed these 215 children in the grave found at Kamloop. It was in Canada, so why is it such a traumatic event for American Indians all over this country? Maybe this second question first. It triggers our own trauma and begs the question, if this happened in boarding schools in Canada, what will still be uncovered in the United States. And what continues to happen with the children on the boarder that we are not able to do anything about. We get in touch with our powerlessness and unmanageability. It makes many want to medicate those feelings. To pretend that it is none of my business as it is not happening to my loved ones, it is not close, it is not in this country. That only lasts for so long, just like not watching the news only lasts for just so long as we hear it repeated from family and friends, in trainings, on the radio, on Facebook. Ignorance is only bliss for a short time. And as I am thinking how I really do not have anything to say about this Vocal challenge, the 215 come to mind. Tell us your favorite unsolved mystery and tell us why. I do not really think of it in those terms. It is on my radar. I do expect to hear what the investigation says about all those dead children. I will hope that it will be truth and not a coverup. We have had enough of that and know when something does not ring true and still that is a fear. My hope is that at some point, the mistreatment of Indigenous people and dark-skinned people will stop. I guess I knew that this story would surface at some point, just as the story of Spaniards feeding Indigenous babies to dogs was so shocking to me when I first heard that. And yet, if a people do not believe that Indigenous people were human, then I suppose, but I will never understand that, any more than I will understand pedophilia, or murdering a loved one.

Names or sex of the children were not kept of those in the graves and there will be difficulty in bringing truth and reconciliation to this tragedy. I will remember these children and their families in my thoughts and prayers. I will say something whenever the opportunity arises as it is helpful for even one person to make a difference in how our people are treated, as I have here today. Then I will grieve until I have cried and did my healing work, whatever that is I need to do to resolve this most recent mystery and pray that others will be able to do the same.