Calls to cancel Canada Day after graves found: ‘Indigenous people paid with their lives’

Two grim discoveries on the grounds of former residential schools have shifted country's mood as national day looms

Indigenous groups have called for Canada's national celebration to be cancelled over the discovery of nearly 1,000 unmarked graves, most of which are believed to belong to Indigenous children.

July 1 marks 154 years since Canada became a country - and until recently, festivities in cities across the country were expected, amplified by the arrival of summer and the pent-up excitement of a country emerging from the coronavirus pandemic.