Iran Press/ America: Calls to cancel celebrations snowballed after, beginning in May, almost 1,000 unmarked graves were found at former so-called residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan mainly run by the Catholic Church and funded by the government, Reuters reported.
Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said last week that Canada Day would be a time for Canadians to reflect "on reconciliation, on our relationship with Indigenous peoples and how it has evolved and how it needs to continue to evolve rapidly."
The discoveries have sparked outrage among the First Nations peoples.
In all, 130 boarding schools forcibly separated more than 150,000 indigenous children from their families. They had them attend state-funded schools in a campaign aimed at forcibly assimilating the minors into Canadian society.
Thousands of children died of disease, malnutrition, neglect, and other causes at the schools, where physical as well as sexual abuse was rife.
Indigenous people, who make up less than 5% of the population, face higher levels of poverty and violence and shorter life expectancies.
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