More unmarked indigenous graves found at yet another Canadian school; 1300 graves since May 2021

Indigenous people in Canada's Saskatchewan province announced Tuesday that 54 unmarked graves have been found at two former residential schools, adding to the growing number of unmarked burials that shocked the country last year.

Keeseekoose First Nation's Ted Quewezance, who is leading a search for graves near Fort Pelly and St. Phillip's residential schools using ground-penetrating radar, revealed the findings at a press conference.

"Canadians still cannot believe a human being could treat another human being, especially a child, like the way we were treated," he said, holding back tears.

Last year, similar findings were made at several other boarding schools across Canada.

For years, the Catholic Church ran two schools for the federal government - St. Phillip's School from 1905 to 1913 and Fort Pelly School from 1928 to 1969.

Chief Lee Kitchemonia, suggested that "could potentially have been, you know, murdered," recommending that more investigation be conducted.

"We passed by them (daily), never realizing there were graves there," he said, adding that the community faces a "very tough time" dealing with the finds.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe in a Facebook post said "Saskatchewan mourns with you" as the Keeseekoose First Nation experiences "the same shock and despair as other First Nations across the country."

Approximately 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were forced to attend these schools from the late 1800s to the 1990s. These schools were set up to forcibly assimilate the country's Indigenous people.

While isolated from their families for months or years, many students were physically and sexually abused by headmasters and teachers who deprived them of their culture and language.

In a 2015 report, a truth-and-reconciliation commission described more than 4,000 deaths at schools, mostly caused by malnutrition, disease, and suicide. It referred to the deaths as "cultural genocide."

More than 1,300 graves have been discovered since May 2021.