Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Sunday that flags at all federal buildings be flown at half-staff to honor more than 200 children were found buried at what was once the country’s largest Indigenous residential school.
The remains of 215 children, some of them as young as three years old, were discovered at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, which was one of 80 institutions that held Indigenous kids taken from their families up until its closure in 1978.
‘To honor the 215 children whose lives were taken at the former Kamloops residential school and all Indigenous children who never made it home, the survivors, and their families, I have asked that the Peace Tower and all federal buildings be flown at half-mast,’ Trudeau tweeted.
The Peace Tower flag on Parliament Hill in the nation’s capital of Ottawa was among those lowered to half-staff.
Mayors of communities across Ontario, including Toronto, Ottawa, Mississauga and Brampton, also ordered flags lowered to honor the children. Chief Rosanne Casimir of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia said the remains of 215 children were confirmed last weekend with the help of ground-penetrating radar.
