By Fred Edwards

In late May， Canadians learned the remains of 215 indigenous children had been found in unmarked graves on the site of a former residential school in British Columbia.

About a month later， hundreds of other unmarked graves were found located on another former residential school in Saskatchewan and a further 182 unmarked graves were discovered at a third site in British Columbia.

Public and political reaction in Canada to these discoveries has been one of shock and sadness， and now scarcely a day goes by without some reference in the political arena and the media to these tragic findings. Besides reports and commentary on the schools themselves， there has also been criticism of iconic Canadian historical figures， such as John A. Macdonald， the countrys first prime minister， whose government instituted the system， and Egerton Ryerson， the architect of colonial Canadas public education system and an early supporter of the residential school concept.

Statues of Macdonald and Ryerson have been defaced or removed， and many communities and schools are considering expunging their names from public spaces， including one of Canadas leading universities， which is named after Ryerson.

The intensity of the reaction is curious because although the discovery of the unmarked graves is new， the story they tell is old and well-known， at least to those Canadians who wanted to know it.

Residential school system

The roots of the residential school system for indigenous youth go back to before Canada became a self-governing country in 1867 and emerged from a noxious amalgam of paternalism and racism， namely the benign belief that the native peoples of British North America needed help to integrate into modern society but that their own culture was a barrier to progress and had to be stamped out.

In 1842， a report on Canadas indigenous people described them as living in a “half-civilized state”and recommended the establishment of live-in schools as part of a policy to assimilate them into the broader European-dominated society. This report was supported by Ryerson， who proposed a separate， denominational， English-only system with a focus on industrial training.

“Agriculture being the chief interest， and probably the most suitable employment of the civilized [indigenous people]， I think the great object of industrial schools should be to fit the pupils for becoming working farmers and agricultural laborers， fortified of course by Christian principles， feelings and habits，” Ryerson said.