The Halton Children’s Aid Society shares the shocked reactions prompted by the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves on the site of the Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia. We want to honour the lives and spirits of these children. Our hearts go out to their families and the community from whom they were taken. Their grief is unfathomable.
This discovery is a stark reminder of all of the thousands of children stolen from their families as part of the genocidal violence perpetrated by the Canadian Residential School system. As a children’s aid society in Ontario, the Halton Children’s Aid Society acknowledges the historic and ongoing role of the child welfare system in perpetuating a legacy of racism through the removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities. We must do better and continue to support the restoration of jurisdiction to First Nations communities to care for their own children.
The Halton Children’s Aid Society is located on the Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and the Traditional Territory of the Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat peoples. We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this land and the precious children who represent the future generations of them.
Every child matters. Each one is precious and irreplaceable. We send our deepest sympathies and our strength to the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation, as well as to all Indigenous communities across Canada.