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Canadian provinces reveal probing claims of abuse of indigenous children
Disclosures of investigations by Manitoba and Saskatchewan provinces follow a series of embarrassing discoveries of unmarked graves of indigenous children at or near the sites of Catholic church-run residential schools across Canada
Law enforcement officers in Canada’s Manitoba province have revealed that they conducted a decade-long investigation into claims of sexual abuse of indigenous children at a residential school there, while a similar probe has been launched in the province of Saskatchewan.
The two disclosures follow a series of embarrassing discoveries of unmarked graves of indigenous children at or near the sites of Catholic church-run residential schools across Canada in developments that have jolted the nation.
Manitoba’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said its Major Crime Services had been carrying probative investigations following allegations of sexual abuse at Fort Alexander Residential School.
A probative investigation, it said, “means gathering information to determine what took place as well as the scope of the occurrences it commenced”.
The Manitoba RCMP said the allegations were “historical in nature” and investigators travelled to Ottawa to review archival records of the school “to identify anyone involved” in the crimes that took place against indigenous children.
Investigators interacted with over 700 people across North America “in an effort to locate any possible victims or witnesses” and a criminal investigation was launched in 2011. The probe team got hold of statements from 75 witnesses and victims.
“There have been more than 680 investigational tasks identified and completed so far and more than 80 RCMP investigators have been engaged in this investigation,” the Manitoba RCMP said.
CBC News, meanwhile, reported that Saskatchewan province’s RCMP was investigating a historical complaint about similar crimes having taken place at Timber Bay Residential School.
Canada’s residential schools in question - operated by the Catholic Church from the late 19th century until the second half of the 20th – used to board indigenous children.
Unmarked graves, numbering 215, were first found at the site of a school in Kamloops, British Columbia in June. The episode was followed a chain of similar discoveries at other locations, with the total number of graves of indigenous children discovered totalling over 1,100 so far.
