By: Thomas I. Likness
EBC News Service

(Eagle News) — Expressing anger over the discovery of unmarked graves on former residential school sites by burning churches is unacceptable, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.

A historic Catholic church in the town of Morinville, near Edmonton, was destroyed in a suspicious fire this morning. Several other Catholic parishes have been damaged by fire elsewhere in the country.

“This is not the way to go,” said Trudeau. “The destruction of places of worship is unacceptable. And it must stop.”

Residential schools were established by the government in the 1800s to assimilate Indigenous children into white society.

The last of them closed in the 1996.

Most were run by the Catholic Church.

Attendance at the school was compulsory. Children were taken from their families, forced to learn English and turn away from their Indigenous culture.

Many children at the schools suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of priests and nuns.

The fire near Edmonton is being investigated by police.

When he visited the scene of the fire today, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney called it an attack on Canadian values and an act of hate.

“This is appalling. This scale of violence, attacking a faith community is an attack on the constitutionally protected freedom of religion,” said Kenney.
(Eagle News Service)