By Emily Bruins

PROTESTERS gathered at Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver March 15, to raise the issue of native residential school burial sites. A number of them entered the church briefly to make their point, disrupting the weekly mass.

The protest came after the Catholic Church refused to name the burial sites of children who died while in the residential schools scattered across Canada.

Protest organizer Kevin Annett, a controversial former United Church minister who was dismissed some years ago from his Port Alberni post, said the children who died while within the system were buried in mass graves.

“It isn’t just about sexual and physical assault anymore, it’s about genocide. It’s about murder,” Annett told reporters at the protest.

Annett also claimed to know where some of the graves were located – and accused the Catholic, United and Anglican churches of withholding information about other locations.

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According to ctv.ca, Holy Rosary rector Glenn Dion spoke after mass, stating: “If there’s some truth to these allegations, if anyone knows anything about this, please bring it to the authorities and let them deal with it. I don’t know anything about it myself; I’m just a simple parish priest here.”

The group of protesters was made up of members of the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared, who want the remains of their family members returned to them so that a proper burial can be conducted.

The federal government recently created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address grievances brought to them by the Native community, regarding issues of abuse within the school system.

The government has designated $60-million to the commission to aid with the healing process.

While the new accusations are as yet unproven, the RCMP is standing by to probe the allegations of mass gravesites.

April 2008