last year when archaeologists detected what they believed to be 200 unmarked graves at
an old school in canada it brought new attention to one of the most shameful
chapters of that nation's history starting in the 1880s and for much of the 20th century
more than 150 000 children from hundreds of indigenous communities across canada were forcibly
taken from their parents by the government and sent to what were called residential schools
funded by the state and run by churches they were designed to assimilate and christianize
indigenous children by ripping them from their parents their culture and their community
the children were often referred to as savages and forbidden from speaking their languages
or practicing their traditions many were physically and sexually abused
and thousands of children never made it home the story will continue in a moment
the last of canada's 139 residential schools for indigenous children closed in 1998 most have been
torn down but the muskogen residential school in saskatchewan still stands its windows boarded up
its rooms gutted a reminder to a nation that would rather forget a three-story tombstone for
generations of children who died here sometimes i wish it would be gone for all what happened here
you wish this had been torn down yeah i could hear everything in here what was done
it lingers leona wolfe who comes from the muskogan reserve was five years old and she says she was
taken from her home in 1960. school officials and police would often show up unannounced in
indigenous communities and round up children some as young as three parents could be jailed
if they refused to hand their children over when kids arrived at their schools their traditional
long hair was shaved off if they tried to speak their language they were often punished
they put me in a dark room like that they'd shut the door and then they take off the light
all i had to look through was this much light like i was in jail she says the abuse many kids
at muskogan suffered from the catholic priests and nuns wasn't just physical father royale
was fondling the girls here a priest father joella was fondling girls yeah this used to be
sick me this they used to have a bed here and he would take girls into the bed yeah my cousin you
took your cousin in here how old was she yeah she was only eight i grew up a very very mean woman
because of all what happened to me you learned that here you think yeah she
is not the only one more than 150 000 children were sent to residential schools
which canada's first prime minister supported to in his words sever children from the tribe
and civilized them for much of the 20th century the canadian government supported that mission
this report aired in 1955 they learned not only games and traditions such as the celebration of
saint valentine's day but the mastery of words the idea for the schools came in part from the
united states in 1879 the carlisle indian industrial school opened in pennsylvania
where this photo was taken of native american children when they first arrived
this is them four months later the school's motto was killed the indian save the man
consequently ours was to kill the indian in the child kill the indian in the child that
was the guiding principle here in canada chief wilton little child whose cree was six years
old when he was taken to this residential school in alberta then he says he was given a new name
my name was number 65 for all those years just a number just the number yeah 65 pick that up stupid
or 65 why'd you do that idiot what does that feel like at six years old to be called a number well i
think that's where the trauma begins not just the physical abuse psychological abuse spiritual abuse
and worst of all sexual abuse you were sexually abused yes i think that's where my anger
began as a young boy chief little child says he was able to take some of that anger out on
the school's hockey rink he won a scholarship to university and graduated eventually going on to
a distinguished career in law but his story is the exception they didn't kill my spirit so i'm
still cree i'm still who i am i'm not 65 my name is mike and mother so they didn't kill my spirit
in 2008 after thousands of school survivors filed lawsuits the canadian government
formally apologized for its policies it also set up a 1.9 billion dollar compensation fund
and established a truth and reconciliation commission that chief little child helped lead
for six years the commission heard testimony from survivors across the country
and she put me underwater slapping me and hitting me slapping me and hitting me and
punching me and punching me and holding me under water pulling my hair and i thought god
she's going to kill me i'm going to die first day of school we as little boys little girls
we lost our innocence
in 2015 the commission concluded what happened was cultural genocide it identified more than 3 000
children who died from disease due to overcrowding malnutrition and poor sanitation or died after
being abused or trying to run away a government study in 1909 found the death rate in some schools
was as high as 20 times the national average most schools had their own cemeteries and sometimes
when children died their parents were never informed it's really traumatic for those families
who don't know what happened to their child or relative in the schools why weren't kids who died
at the schools why weren't they sent home to save money last year archaeologists detected what they
said could be 200 unmarked graves at this former school in kamloops british columbia weeks later a
further 751 unmarked graves were detected across from the former maryville residential school
on the kaus's reserve in saskatchewan there was once a catholic cemetery here
but the headstones were bulldozed in the 1960s by a priest after a dispute with a former chief
and what were these lists for so it will tell a small team of researchers has been trying to
discover the names of those children buried here but for decades the government and the church have
been reluctant to share their records chief cadmus delorme is trying to get answers do you know that
they're all children we can't verify how much our children but based on the research we're doing
a lot of them were children that were forced to go to the maryville residential school and died
in the maryville residential school chief delorme says he hopes to give the unidentified children a
dignity in death that they never received in life i want to make sure that canada knows the truth
because you can't move to reconciliation until you accept the truth the discoveries of the
graves open deep wounds more than a dozen churches have been vandalized or destroyed
and thousands have marched demanding the pope apologize
and the church's open archives to help identify any missing children indigenous communities
across the country have begun conducting their own searches using ground penetrating radar we've laid
out a number of grids throughout this landscape archaeologist keisha supernant and terry clark say
35 unmarked graves have been discovered at the muskogen school there's something going
on there that's not natural when we were there this past october they found what appeared to be
another according to survivor accounts children sometimes had to dig their classmates graves
the priests or the school officials would force the kids to dig other children's graves yep
can you imagine being like 10 or 11 and digging a grave for your classmate what that must have
been like keisha supernant says the search for unmarked graves will continue for years this is
very emotional work it's very devastating work it's heartbreaking for everyone who's involved
you feel that too i do our communities still feel the impacts of these institutions in our everyday
lives we're way over-represented in in child welfare and adoptions and and foster care we're
way over-represented in the prisons you can draw a direct line with that to these places and the pain
of that that has been passed on from generation to generation i started school here in 1958
ed bitter knows whose cree understands that pain he was eight years old when he was taken
to the muskogen school his parents lived within sight of the school and when he tried to run away
he says the priest forced him to kneel on a broom handle for three days that's where
my house was i would sit here and wonder why i i couldn't be home that must have been devastating
yeah it wasn't only adults he feared some students themselves victims of abuse
preyed on other children were you abused here uh yeah actually in this room here
by one of the one of the one of the boys
in this very room this very area here later he says he was also sexually molested by a nun
when he left school he was rudderless and violent and turned to alcohol when he got married he says
he didn't know how to show affection you didn't know what love was no no i never thought it here i
didn't start saying i loved her until we were married about 40 years and then i was very careful
how i said it you didn't say to your wife for 40 years that you loved her
yeah he says his life changed when he began rediscovering his cree culture raising buffalo
and sharing traditional knowledge with children brought healing and finally an understanding of
the word love you can say that now i can say that now and it feels good and we i still joke
with my wife about that don't say that too loud you know so you can say you just don't
want to say it too loud yes you know what it's better than nothing yes that's what she says
as for leona wolfe her life and the lives of her children and grandchildren have been plagued by
violence and substance abuse intergenerational trauma she says that began the day her own
mother was sent to school at muskelgon did you see the impact of this place on your mom
yeah wow by drinking a lot being mean to me and it impact us me and my brother and my siblings
what had was done to her she passed on to you and what was done to you and others
here was passed on to my children this is why sometimes i go into my rage of anger
and i cry because it all it was all done to us all of us but it's going to stop now you know it is
you believe that i am good i'm breaking the cycle with my great-grandchildren
hey full of grace leona wolfe has returned to her traditions as well walking the halls
of muskelkin she began to sing hail mary a prayer she was forced to learn here long ago
now she sings it her own way
that's not how you sang it here when you were in school though was it nope
you made peace with the virgin mary yes i made that song peace with myself