July 1 is Canada's Birthday. In 1867 the nation was born and for many years held a position f respect on the world stage. But this year the birthday celebrations are heavily muted as we wrestle with the revelations of discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves, where our First Nation children were taken from their homes and placed into Residential Schools by our government. The goal was to "Erase the Indian out of them."
We now know that the schools were rife with abuse, physical and sexual. The children were subjected to horrendous forms of discipline and many died. These recently discovered graves on the grounds of the old Residential schools have brought to light one of the darkest and most horrendous parts of our history.
