Two Roman Catholic churches in Canada have been burned to the ground in what is believed to be a response to the discovery of over 1,000 children's bodies in the grounds of Roman Catholic reformatory school grounds.
The news of the most recent church attacks comes as it is reported that the skeletal remains of more dead children have been discovered at yet another former reformatory school in Canada.
The most recent two fires have occurred at the St. Jean Baptiste Parish Church in Morinville, Alberta, and at the Catholic St. Kateri Tekakwitha Church in Sipekne'katik First Nation in Nova Scotia. As many as 7 other Catholic churches have also been targeted in suspected arson attacks over recent days.
Iain Bushell, who is infrastructure general manager in Morinville, told CTV News:
"The fire was already fully involved from the basement when the first fire crews got here. They entered the building but there was already collapse occurring on the inside of the church so they backed out and it's been a defensive or exterior fire fight ever since. It's one of the largest buildings. It's very old construction so an awful lot of wood, so it went very quickly and it was a very difficult fire to fight."
In recent demonstrations, protestors have left blood-red painted hand-prints on churches and even toppled statues of colonialist figures in Canada.
Last month 571 children's bodies were found in the grounds of the former Marieval Indian Residential School which operated from 1899 to 1997. Two weeks ago, 215 children's bodies were discovered at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Colombia. Now, it is being reported that 182 bodies have been discovered at a former residential school site in British Columbia.
These residential schools, which only closed in the late 1990s, were used to house indigenous Canadian children who were taught to obey Western culture and religions. They were banned from practicing their own religion or speaking their own language and were subjected to widespread physical and sexual abuse. Over 150,000 children passed through their doors.
Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission has described the schools as a form of 'cultural genocide'. There is now an investigation underway trying to discover where more mass graves may lie, and questions are being asked as to how so many children could go missing without anything ever being said or done.
[h/t: The Mind Unleashed]
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