Church's Steps Filling With Children's Shoes In Remembrance Of 215 Children Buried Without Recognition

Hundreds of pairs of children’s shoes as well as teddy bears populate a temporary memorial set up on the main stairs of St Andrews United Church in remembrance of 215 Indigenous children detected with ground penetrating radar next to the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

The unmarked graves include children as young as three years of age who were sent to residential schools as part of the federal government’s plans to colonize the country. The graves contained children whose deaths were not reported at the residential school which was operated by the Catholic Church.

Teddy bears and children’s shoes sit on the main entry steps of St Andrew’s United Church - MJ Independent photo

Residential schools were financed by the federal government and run by churches of various denominations. The purpose of residential schools was the elimination of Indigenous culture and languages and replace it with European culture and language.

Across Canada the churches involved in residential schools included the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, United Church, Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church.

Two women add two pairs of shoes to the memorial which was growing over the day - MJ Independent photo

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) along with the government of Saskatchewan have sent out a joint statement calling for Ottawa to provide funding to use ground penetrating radar at all former residential school sites to detect hidden graves and document the numbers of children buried there.