When Grievance Produces Wealth, More Grievance Gets Produced
Examining The CBCs May 17 Article - "Human remains found near Alberta residential school site likely children, First Nation says"
This is another guest post by independent researcher Michael Melanson. In his response to this CBC article, we think he asks some compelling questions. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.
"Saddle Lake Cree Nation revealed on Tuesday that since 2004, there have been numerous discoveries of partial remains that were accidentally excavated while new graves were being dug in the community's cemetery, which is near the former Blue Quills residential school site."
I'm not a grave digger but I'm guessing that it's unusual to find bodies when digging a grave.
"While community members who discovered the remains were at the time unsure about what they found and reburied them, a team tasked with investigating burial sites connected to the school now believes it's been uncovering the shallow, unmarked graves of children between the ages of four and 10 who perished at the school."
If I was a grave digger and found a body while digging a grave, I would contact somebody: the police, the nearest coroner or the archaeology department of the nearest university, certainly the band council that I'm working for. How do you know that you haven't uncovered the skeletal remains of a victim of crime?
Pay attention to how CB journalism enables the libel:
"Large said Catholic Church records obtained by investigators show that 212 students died at the school between 1898 and 1931. The number vastly outstrips federal records, which accounted for about 25 student deaths, he said."
Which seems shocking, except...
"However, Warholik said that the burial records are for the parish, not specifically for the residential school, and that Bishop Paul Terrio says neither registers nor burial records for the school have been found."
"The team does not know how many remains have been unearthed over the years because, at the time, members didn't know what they were finding, Large said."
Really? People knew they were finding bodies, repeatedly, which were purportedly reburied and no one knows how many times this occurred? Small wonder then if deceased children are 'missing'. Why can't someone simply count the reburials? Are there no markers or records?
"In 2004, the community discovered what it believes to be a mass grave.
"The mass grave had numerous children-sized skeletons wrapped in white cloth. This could possibly be from when there was an outbreak of typhoid fever in the school," Whiskeyjack said.
In peacetime, mass graves would typically be dug during an epidemic to bury the pestilent corpses as quickly as possible for the community's safety.
" Whiskeyjack said the last time he hit an unmarked grave while excavating a new one was in December.
"I don't recall because I always blocked that out of my mind, try to find a way to block it out of my mind," he said.
As recently as last December, while unmarked graves at former residential schools was still at the fore in national news, this guy found another body while digging a grave. When he says he always blocked that out of his mind, does he mean he found bodies so often that he had to repeatedly block it out of his mind? If there is a point where discovering a child's corpse isn't extraordinary, this is it. Did he actually have to block it out of his mind or was finding a body so common that he ceased to take note of it even when the discovery amounts to proof of the unmarked graves narrative?
"In many cases, the communities have chosen not to exhume the sites."
Which is perhaps the most telling fact. How does anyone know if there really is a body below if they don't excavate? Activists want the outraged reaction and pity money but they don't want to be burdened with proving their claims. Hustlers gonna hustle but it is shameful of the federal government to permit this chicanery when reserves are federal jurisdiction, especially when allegations of criminal death are involved.
"In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada said that Saddle Lake Cree Nation has received $7.3 million in mental wellness funding over the past three years, but Redcrow said the community has been historically underfunded."
When grievance produces wealth, more grievance gets produced.