Estevan, SK – Dr. Robert Kitchen, MP for Souris – Moose Mountain, released the following statement in response to the unmarked graves found at the site of the former Marieval Indian Residential School at Cowessess First Nation:
"Earlier today, Chief Cadmus Delorme of Cowessess First Nation confirmed that 751 unmarked graves were discovered at the former location of the Marieval Indian Residential School.
"What has been uncovered here in Saskatchewan is unthinkable, and I cannot begin to imagine the devastation that is being felt by the community at this time.
"The legacy of residential schools has had a profoundly lasting and damaging impact on Indigenous culture, heritage, and language, and much more work needs to be done to address the harmful effects that residential schools had, and still have, on many survivors today.
"Canada's Conservatives are calling on the Government of Canada to follow through with the implementation of Calls to Action 71 to 76 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, and to provide the community with the needed resources to identify, protect, and honour the children buried at the Marieval Indian Residential School.
"To all those at Cowessess, as well as the surrounding First Nations communities, I extend my deepest condolences on this tragic and senseless loss of life."
