In 2021, it was reported that ‘mass graves’ had been discovered in Canada. The remains of 215 indigenous children were said to have been found at the former site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. More such ‘discoveries’ at other former residential schools followed.

Notoriously, in the 19th and 20th centuries, the Canadian government removed indigenous children from their families and placed them in boarding schools in an attempt to assimilate them into the dominant culture. Conditions were reported to be appalling and abuse was rife. Thousands of children went to residential school and never returned home. Many died from illnesses like tuberculosis and the Spanish flu combined with poor living conditions, lack of access to good medical care and nutrition, and neglect. Some died in fires. Early on, the mortality rate for indigenous children in residential schools was much higher than in regular schools.

When reports across the media said that the remains of hundreds of indigenous children had been discovered at old residential school sites, it seemed to be merely the most shocking example of what Canadians had widely accepted was a dark time in history. It led to the lowering of flags to half-mast, widespread calls to cancel Canada Day in favour of a day ‘reflect[ing] on the dark roots of Canada’, and a solemn photoshoot featuring prime minister Justin Trudeau holding a teddy bear (it later transpired he was at a Catholic cemetery). In some ways, all this was understandable. Such a discovery really would be deeply disturbing and bring shame on the nation – that is, had it been real.

Almost four years later, no such remains have been uncovered at any of the former residential schools. Headlines have since been amended in some publications to add the word ‘suspected’ ahead of ‘unmarked graves’, but overall, the narrative holds strong. Some Canadians simply refuse to let go of the idea that these mass killings of children had taken place. This is a history that Canadians are expected to mourn performatively for eternity.

In truth, the only ‘evidence’ for the mass graves is that ‘anomalies’ have been detected by ground-penetrating radar. But for all we know, these could have been trenches from long-disused septic fields. No actual excavations have ever been carried out at the sites where these supposed graves were discovered. Yet those who point this out are publicly tarred as ‘residential-school denialists’.