Canadian officials, shedding crocodile tears and invoking human rights, have become a central force in the West’s efforts to build cases against other countries, even as Canada’s own domestic record is tied to a horrific case known as the genocide of Indigenous peoples, many aspects of which remain shrouded in uncertainty. Although the country’s leaders have sought to project a human-rights image by designating September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and claiming to honor Indigenous children who were victims of residential schools, numerous questions surrounding the deaths and unmarked graves of these children remain unanswered. Reconciliation without truth and accountability cannot heal the wounds of a century of systematic crimes. The time has come to demand transparency, accountability and punishment for those responsible for and who ordered these crimes in Canada and Britain.
Unmarked Graves: Silent Records of a Genocide
Since the formation of Canada in the 19th century, the government implemented a program aimed at introducing Indigenous people to “modern culture.” Under this system, children from Indigenous families were separated from their families and communities and sent to residential schools and white families. The system, which operated from 1831 to 1996, separated around 150,000 Indigenous children from their families and transferred them to Catholic Christian schools.
Hector Langevin, Canada’s minister of public works, said in 1883 that children had to be separated from their families in order to be properly educated. A report by a federal commission also shows that members of the same family were kept apart from one another in these schools. The use of Indigenous names was prohibited, children were required to adopt European Christian names, and they were forbidden from speaking their Indigenous languages.
Many of these children died from disease, suicide, accidents or while attempting to escape the schools. A significant number never returned home and were buried in unmarked graves. The discovery of hundreds of mass graves, including graves containing young children, has revealed part of this horrific reality. However, the fate of many of these graves remains unclear.
Behind the Church’s Mask: State Responsibility for a Crime
The Canadian government has sought to place much of the blame for these crimes on the Church. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau personally called for the Pope to visit and apologize to Indigenous people, and Pope Francis apologized for the crimes committed at residential schools.
But the fundamental issue is that these schools operated within the framework of federal government policies, and the government’s responsibility cannot be concealed behind the role of the Church. At a time when the catastrophic conditions facing children had been evident for years, the silence of Canadian officials cannot absolve them of responsibility. They cannot whitewash their historical responsibility by emphasizing the role of the Church and using human-rights rhetoric.
Genocide Did Not Stop; Its Form Changed
This genocide was not limited to the era of residential schools. Indigenous people, who make up around 4 percent of Canada’s population, continue to face poverty, addiction, systemic discrimination and widespread deprivation. Indigenous women have also been reported to face a significantly higher risk of death or disappearance than other women. Some Indigenous communities continue to struggle with access to drinking water, while Indigenous people’s share of the federal prison population has risen from around one-fifth in 2015 to roughly one-third.
A national inquiry described the disappearance or killing of thousands of Indigenous women and girls as a “national tragedy of staggering proportions” and “genocide,” estimating that more than 4,000 Indigenous women have gone missing. A 2019 report by Leilani Farha, the UN special rapporteur, also warned about the housing conditions of Indigenous people in northern Canada. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a 2020 report by Statistics Canada showed that more than one-third of Indigenous people could not afford basic living expenses.
Britain: A Historical Partner in a Crime That Cannot Be Exonerated
Alongside the government and the Church, Britain’s role in the history of colonization and policies toward Indigenous people in Canada cannot be overlooked. Members of the National Assembly of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, during a meeting with Prince Charles in Ottawa, called on the British Queen to apologize for the “genocide and cultural assimilation” of Indigenous children.
Canada was a French colony until 1713, after which it came under British control and was governed within the framework of British colonial rule until the 19th century. Canada established its constitutional independence in 1982, but its constitutional monarchy remains linked to the British Crown.
Media outlets affiliated with British and Canadian institutions, including the BBC, have largely focused on the role of religious institutions and failures to address the conditions of children when covering these crimes. Such a narrative cannot absolve Canadian and British officials of responsibility.
Today, Canada builds cases against other countries under the guise of human rights while its own record extends from the genocide of Indigenous children to military operations in Afghanistan, support for the genocide in Gaza and support for those responsible for killing students in Minab. A “Day of Reconciliation” without truth and accountability cannot serve as a cover for these crimes. Denying children the right to life because of their race and skin color is a systematic crime against humanity, and those responsible for and who ordered these crimes must be held accountable.
