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PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIELLA ZALCMAN
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Canada’s own history, like that of the U.S., is fraught with abuse of its Indigenous population. More than 150,000 indigenous students were enrolled in Canada’s residential school system, now closed. Abuse was rampant. “I was so scared all the time,” Deedee Lerat, who from 1967 to 1970, attended the school where those mass graves were found. Lerat (pictured above) told Nat Geo: “I remember thinking ‘don’t be noticed’ because I saw what they did to the kids that were noticed.”
Lerat said she suffered physical, emotional, and verbal abuse while at Marieval. Children as young as three years old were removed from their parents, forced to attend the schools and prohibited from speaking their native languages. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement that “the findings in Marieval and Kamloops are part of a larger tragedy. He tweeted, “we will honor their memory and we will tell the truth about these injustices.”
"They are a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that Indigenous peoples have faced–and continue to face–in this country. And together, we must acknowledge this truth, learn from our past, and walk the shared path of reconciliation, so we can build a better future.”
Nat Geo Explorer Daniella Zalcman's photographs of survivors of North America’s Indigenous schools was funded in part by the National Geographic Society. Learn more about the Society’s support of Explorers working to inspire, educate, and better understand human history and cultures.
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