CRANBROOK, British Columbia, July 9, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – After initial reports alleged finding “unmarked graves,” a former British Columbia chief has revealed that the existence of these graves is common knowledge, as they are part of an actively-used graveyard.
This week, mainstream media reported that ground-penetrating radar discovered 182 unmarked graves at the site of the former Kootenay Residential School at St. Eugene Mission just outside Cranbrook, B.C.
Former chief of the St Mary’s Indian Band and former student of this school, Sophie Pierre, told Global News that this was not news to the community. “There’s no discovery, we knew it was there, it’s a graveyard,” Pierre said. “The fact there are graves inside a graveyard shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.”
She explained that the graves had been marked with wooden crosses which had either been burned or deteriorated over time. Currently, the use of wooden markers is still common practice among many Indigenous communities across Canada.
Additionally, Pierre revealed that the graves may contain the bodies of children from the residential schools; however, this is not confirmed. “There could very well be, and in good likelihood, some children that were in the residential school that died here because of [tuberculosis] or other diseases, and were buried there,” Pierre said. “But it’s a graveyard.”
“To just assume that every unmarked grave inside a graveyard is already tied to a residential school, we’ve got to be a little bit more respectful of our people who are buried in our graveyards,” Pierre continued.
This graveyard is still being actively used. “We just buried one of our people there last month,” she said. “Anyone who died in my community would be buried there.”
The parents of Alta Fixsler are pleading with the British courts not to remove life support from their brain-damaged daughter, so that they can transport her to a hospital in Israel or the U.S.
Could you do your part and SIGN and SHARE this petition which asks the British courts and hospital system to allow the Fixslers to remove their daughter from the UK so that she can live, and not be killed by so-called "passive euthanasia" where her life support is taken away?
Late last month, High Court Justice Mr. Alistair McDonald insanely ruled that it is in Alta's "best interests" to have her life support stopped, and that Manchester University NHS could begin the process of removing her life support.
But, Mr. and Mrs. Fixsler, who are are Orthodox Jews living according to Hebrew law, strenuously objected to the hospital depriving Alta of life support and she was given a reprieve, but we don't know how long that will last.
In fact, just yesterday, a British Court of Appeal declined to render judgement in this case, giving more hope that little Alta might be able to leave the UK and be treated in another country.
And, both American and Israeli lawmakers have spoken up against the planned passive euthanasia death of Alta, with a host of U.S. Senators, as well as the Israeli Health Minister and President, petitioning different British officials to stop the process of causing Alta's death.
We concur with what the Senators wrote: "It is unacceptable that people in government think they, not parents, should decide what is in the best interest of a child, even in a matter of life and death."
Please SIGN and SHARE this urgent petition now.
The story of a brain-damaged child in England in danger of a passive euthanasia opposed by both his or her parents and officials overseas is now a distressingly familiar one.
In the 2017 case of Charlie Gard, Pope Francis, President Donald Trump, and 37 European MPs sided with the infant’s parents against the British courts that agreed to allow the NHS to withdraw his life support. Almost one-year-old Charlie died 12 minutes after he was removed from a ventilator.
In 2018, Tom Evans, the Catholic father of Alfie Evans, appealed to Pope Francis on behalf of his almost two-year-old son, and the pontiff did indeed ask for prayers for the youngster. Both Polish and Italian hospitals were willing to treat the brain-injured boy, but the British courts refused to release him. Alfie died four days after he was removed from a ventilator.
In 2019, Tafida Raqeeb, then five years old, made headlines when her Muslim parents fought the Barts Health NHS Trust’s request to stop treating the brain-damaged girl. Once again, an Italian hospital offered to treat the sick child, and in this case the judge – Mr Justice Alistair MacDonald – ruled that the child could be allowed to live and taken to Italy for treatment.
And, in 2021, six-year-old Pippa Knight was not permitted to live despite the wishes of her widowed mother Paula. Pippa died in May after doctors removed her life support.
RIGHT NOW, please help little Alta and her parents fight for her right to live, and not be killed by having her life support removed.
Thank you for SIGNING and SHARING this urgent petition.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'No judgment yet: Panel to ‘think carefully’ about taking 2-year-old Alta Fixsler off life support' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/no-judgment-yet-panel-to-think-carefully-about-taking-2-year-old-alta-fixsler-off-life-support
'US senators, Israeli officials appeal against UK High Court decision to deny Jewish toddler food, water, oxygen' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/us-senators-israeli-officials-appeal-against-uk-high-court-decision-to-deny-jewish-toddler-food-water-oxygen
'Judge rules Jewish girl's life support can be withdrawn' - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-57276221
Photo Credit: screenshot / 'PA'
Most mainstream media reports blame the Catholic Church, neglecting to mention the excessively high rates of tuberculosis among Indigenous children and the substantial lack of proper financial support from the Canadian government, which forced Indigenous children into those schools in the first place.
Once the government mandated attendance at the schools in the 1920s, children were forcibly removed from their families and parents threatened with prison if they did not comply. Upon arrival at school, children rarely saw their families, with many disappearing or never seeing their families again.
Catholic author Michael O’Brien, who attended residential schools, gave testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He previously told LifeSiteNews that the chief underlying issue in the residential school saga was the institutional abuse of children being removed from their families by the state authorities, and then taken to the schools, noting the “long-term psychological and social effects of this.”
An important element to the residential school narrative, often ignored by the mainstream media, is that, citing financial costs, the Department of Indian Affairs refused to ship home the bodies of children who died at the government-mandated schools, meaning that they had to be buried there.
Additionally, mortality rates for children under the age of five had been recorded as 296.75 deaths per 1,000 births in 1900. That figure only dropped beneath 100 deaths per 1,000 births in 1935, with high rates of child mortality consistently seen from 1910 through 1920.
Indeed, the First Nations people have historically been noted to be less resilient against infectious diseases, such as influenza epidemics, measles, and smallpox.
As media outlets publish allegations and grossly overexaggerated accounts, many Catholic churches are being burned to the ground while others are vandalized. These churches serve Indigenous Catholics, who are now left without parishes or access to necessary sacraments. Some officials are even encouraging these acts on social media.