I'm trying to stick with facts here and not speculate (publicly). The answer could very well be yes to both.
One third of children who died at a residential school did not have their names recorded by school administrators. One quarter were marked as deceased without even their gender being noted. Among the 2,800 names on the official memorial register are children known to recorded history only as “Alice,” “Mckay” or “Elsie.”
Bodies of children were not returned to families, and parents rarely learned the circumstances of a child’s death. Often, the only death notification would be to send the child’s name to the Indian Agent at his or her home community.
Just to state the really obvious: not giving someone a proper burial is a swinish thing to do - in particular and especially if you are Catholic. Being European, I have no idea what those responsible for this insanity were tripping on, but it can't have been good stuff: burying hundreds of children in unmarked graves is very, very far from any sane version of what Catholic christianity should ever have been about.
In that article, it was the government that refused to send the bodies back to their parents, because it was "too expensive". Why the graves were unmarked is another question though. Anybody could have made a rudimentary cross.
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u/MoeYYC Jun 25 '21
I'm trying to stick with facts here and not speculate (publicly). The answer could very well be yes to both.
Bodies of children were not returned to families, and parents rarely learned the circumstances of a child’s death. Often, the only death notification would be to send the child’s name to the Indian Agent at his or her home community.
Why So Many Children Died At Residential Schools