The destruction was related to the anger resulting from the recent discovery of children’s graves in indigenous people’s Islamic boarding schools, he wrote. BBC.

Protesters in the provincial capital of Manitoba, Winnipeg cheered when a prominent statue of Queen Victoria fell on Friday. A smaller statue of Queen Elizabeth II nearby was also destroyed.

Last weekend, several Catholic churches were burned, this is also related to the discovery of mass graves at the pesantren. Many of these schools are run by the Catholic Church.

Trudeau understood but condemned

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the vandalism and church fire as unacceptable.

– I understand that there is anger out there, both against federal authorities and institutions like the Catholic Church. That’s appropriate and completely understandable given its shameful history. But instead of destroying, we must unite and work for reconciliation, Trudeau said at a news conference on Friday.

The fall of the statue coincided with Canada Day, which is the annual anniversary of the country’s founding by British colonialists in 1867.

Assimilation of native children

More than 150,000 Indigenous Canadian children were taken from their families and forced to attend boarding schools in the 19th and 20th centuries. The goal is to assimilate them into society by force.

It is estimated that at least 6,000 children died while attending the school. Often they were housed in squalid houses that were poorly constructed and without much heat.

In the past month, more than a thousand unmarked graves have been found in at least three Islamic boarding schools. Indigenous groups in Canada have asked the government to audit all former Indigenous schools in the country.