215 bodies found at site of residential school

"Didn't the parents notice?"

Vincent J. Curtis

1 June 21

When the media and politicians are trying to stampede public opinion, and when the usual talking heads are saying the usual things like, “Give us more money“ and “shame on the white man,“ older and wiser heads are inclined wait until more evidence is in.

I spoke today with a woman who was born and raised in Kamloops, and still has family and vacation property there.  She said there were five major reserves in the area.  She was incensed by the statement that “nobody knew.”  She said it was “common knowledge” that some aboriginal children had died at the school, of things like polio and influenza.  “How else would they know where to look?”

It is plainly insulting to say that “nobody knew.”  Did the parents of these children not notice when their child didn’t come home from school at the end of the term?  Were they that neglectful?

According to my interlocutor, the school was a refuge for many children – from abuse they would have received at home in the way of beatings from drunken parents.  Protection from abuse that children were receiving at home was the reason for the ‘60’s Scoop in Ontario, so the abuse theory superficially holds water.

People need to shed their romantic illusions of what life is like on Indian reserves.  Until a full enquiry is completed, people should withhold judgement about what happened, and how these children came to receive a Christian burial on the site of their school.

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