Percy Casper, 73, spent 10 years as a child at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

He has spent the past year grieving.

A member of the Bonaparte Indian Band near Cache Creek, B.C., Casper said he was deeply distraught when he heard the news last May, when Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir, Tk91裸聊视频檈mlups te Secwepemc Nation Chief, announced that a war graves expert using ground-penetrating radar had located 215 suspected unmarked graves at the site of the former school.

So, Casper grieved, for lost classmates, and for himself. His emotions twisted into a painful knot when Indigenous leaders later visited the Vatican to meet the Pope who represents the church that he says abused him.

But his spirits have been lifted by strangers, he said.

91裸聊视频淔amilies have walked up to me and literally put their hands out and said they were ashamed of who they were on account of what we went through,91裸聊视频� he said.

Casper91裸聊视频檚 emotional journey echoes a year of reckoning for Canada as it confronts the legacy of its residential school system for Indigenous children. The findings in an old apple orchard would reverberate from British Columbia91裸聊视频檚 Interior to Ottawa, the Vatican and beyond.

The discovery represented what Casimir called at the time, an 91裸聊视频渦nthinkable loss91裸聊视频�. The existence of unmarked graves had been a 91裸聊视频渒nowing91裸聊视频� among school survivors and elders, but the high-tech survey represented confirmation for Canada, she said.

The detection of hundreds more suspected graves connected to residential schools across the country would follow.

Prof. Geoff Bird, an anthropologist at the school of communication and culture at Victoria91裸聊视频檚 Royal Roads University, said the unmarked graves represent a profound moment in the nation91裸聊视频檚 history.

91裸聊视频淭he discovery of children buried in residential schools across the country was perhaps, I would say, the most traumatic event in recent Canadian history in terms of defining who we are,91裸聊视频� Bird said.

91裸聊视频淲hen you actually have a discovery such as this, it can91裸聊视频檛 do anything but impact the nation and its perception of itself,91裸聊视频� he said.

Bird, an expert on cultural memory and war heritage, said Canada could not ignore the harsh realities of the residential school experience, even as it grappled with other issues, like climate change or the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

91裸聊视频淭he whole field of cultural memory is what we remember, what we forget, what we silence,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淲e can91裸聊视频檛 be blind to our own history.91裸聊视频�

There have been previous attempts to face that history. A 4,000-page report in 2015 by the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission detailed harsh mistreatment at residential schools, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse of children, and at least 4,100 deaths at the institutions.

The report cited records of at least 51 children dying at the Kamloops school between 1914 and 1963. Officials in 1918 believed children at the school were not being adequately fed, leading to malnutrition, the report noted.

But the findings last May would transfix the national gaze in a way that a written report, no matter how grim, could not.

The Kamloops residential school operated between 1890 and 1969, when the federal government took over operations from the Catholic Church and operated it as a day school until it closed in 1978.

91裸聊视频淲hen you look at other nations around the world that have gone through their efforts toward truth and reconciliation these are difficult things to come to terms within a nation91裸聊视频檚 past,91裸聊视频� Bird said.

The moment of reckoning has extended abroad. China, for example, has said Canada should not criticize other nations on human rights, while unmarked graves of missing children were being discovered on its own soil.

91裸聊视频淚 think those kinds of situations, with, say, China are just examples to dilute the focus on their lack of human rights internally,91裸聊视频� Bird said.

On the other hand, a visit to Canada this summer by Pope Francis 91裸聊视频渨ill be a powerful and symbolic act,91裸聊视频� said Bird. Indigenous leaders visited Francis at the Vatican last month, prompting him to issue an apology for the harm caused by the church at residential schools.

91裸聊视频淔or the deplorable conduct of these members of the Catholic Church, I ask for God91裸聊视频檚 forgiveness, and I want to say to you with all my heart, I am very sorry,91裸聊视频� Francis said.

Kamloops school survivor Garry Gottfriedson, 69, an internationally known poet, said people from outside Canada often ask him about the Kamloops burial site.

At a recent international book fair in Bogota, Colombia, where he was a keynote speaker, Gottfriedson said many asked about Indigenous issues in Canada.

91裸聊视频淭he questions were related to this very topic and why isn91裸聊视频檛 Canada doing anything about it,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淭he people from abroad know what91裸聊视频檚 going on here.91裸聊视频�

Gottfriedson, who provides counsel and curriculum advice to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops on Secwepemc Nation protocols and cultural practices, said any act of recognition would help because Canada had so far to go in coming to terms with residential school history.

Over the past year many Canadians sent messages of support and understanding, said Gottfriedson, adding much of the correspondence came from immigrants to Canada.

91裸聊视频淭he Sikh people in Surrey, I got invited to a feast,91裸聊视频� he said. 91裸聊视频淚 am a poet. They read my work. It was beautiful. The message was: 91裸聊视频榊ou are not alone91裸聊视频�.91裸聊视频�

Any acts of recognition and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, big or small, were steps toward national healing, said Bird.

91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 about addressing, in an open and transparent way, what91裸聊视频檚 happened over the decades and not silencing it and not forgetting it,91裸聊视频� said Bird. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 about symbolic action right now. Acts of remembrance, acts of reconciliation that are very visible and very powerful.91裸聊视频�

Prof. Nicole Schabus, an Indigenous and environmental law expert at Thompson Rivers University, said the unmarked graves discoveries had resulted in many school survivors pursuing a deeper sense of healing.

The graves also left the chilling question of genocide on Canadian soil.

91裸聊视频淵ou need international oversight,91裸聊视频� she said. 91裸聊视频淐anada can91裸聊视频檛 investigate itself. The forceful removal of children from their families with that intention of taking their culture away is genocide.91裸聊视频�

The outpouring of shock and emotion by many Canadians could signal a new understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, said Bird, calling it a breakthrough moment.

91裸聊视频淟ittle shoes on the steps of the legislature are powerful images,91裸聊视频� said Bird, referring to how protesters used children91裸聊视频檚 shoes to represent lives lost at residential schools. 91裸聊视频淲hen we think of children, we can all understand the terror and the trauma of that. It cuts across every culture.91裸聊视频�

Casper said he was grateful for the acknowledgment of his experiences, and the shared grief of strangers.

91裸聊视频淭hey showed some remorse and I really appreciate it,91裸聊视频� he said.

91裸聊视频擠irk Meissner, The Canadian Press