This Canada Day, let’s remember: this country was built on genocide | Mumilaaq Qaqqaq

Reports of unmarked graves of Indigenous children have shocked many Canadians. But these just confirmed what we knew all along

People across the country are waking up to the reality that Canada is a country built on the violent dispossession of Indigenous peoples. The horrifying reports of unmarked graves of children at residential schools" in Kamloops, British Columbia, Brandon, Manitoba, and most recently Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan have shocked many Canadians and others around the world. However, these were not discoveries, but confirmations of what we knew all along: Canada was built on genocide.

Related: The Guardian view on Canada's residential schools: an atrocity still felt today | Editorial