Spanish newspaper reflects discovery of graves of 1st nation children in Canada

Spain's El Pais newspaper has reflected the terrible importance of the discovery of the unmarked graves bellowing to Native American first nation children in the grounds of a former indigenous residential school in Canada, reported Xinhua.

The former St. Eugene's Mission School was a former Catholic-church-run boarding school near the town of Cranbrook in the province of British Columbia.

The newspaper reported on June 30 that the discovery of a further 182 graves raised the number of bodies which have been discovered in Canada to around 1,100.

St. Eugene's was open from 1912 to the early 1970s, and during this time, it was host to around 5,000 first nation children and formed part of a network of 139 boarding schools, 70 percent of which were run by the Catholic church, which aimed to assimilate native Americans into society, reported the newspaper.

However, it is now clear that the schools completely failed in their obligations to look after the children. El Pais reported that at least 4,134 minors died in these centers.

What happened in the centers has been described as "cultural genocide" with former students testifying they were subjected to "physical punishment, sexual violence, neglect, labor exploitation and racism" in the schools, according to the report.

Perry Bellegarde, head of Canada's Assembly of First Nations, has commented on Twitter that he expects further graves to be discovered in the future.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this is the beginning of these discoveries. I call on all Canadians to join First Nations in demanding justice," he wrote.