Providing some needed context for the emotional debate about the human remains found at a “residential school” in British Columbia, researchers note that:

—Canadian authorities have known for several years that thousands of children perished at these schools, mostly because of disease and malnutrition, in schools for which the government did not provide adequate funding.

—Although many children were buried in unmarked graves— again because of lack of funds— these were not “mass graves.” Some teachers and members of the religious community that sponsored the school were probably buried in the same way.