Facing the unthinkable in Kamloops Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. The Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation, which Thursday announced the discovery of the remains of 215 children near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, believes it is likely that more remains will be found as technicians go over the school grounds with ground-penetrating radar. The First Nation is preparing a report with more details of the discovery, which will be released in mid-June. The school was the largest residential school in Canada, with up to 500 students on site from 1890 to 1978. Only 52 deaths of children were documented at the school, which was operated by the Roman Catholic Church. Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir, Tk’emlups chief, believes the deaths of the children were never documented. “Some were as young as three years old,” she said. “We sought out a way to confirm that knowing out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families, understanding that Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc is the final resting place of these children.” The Truth and Reconciliation Commission reports, released by Justice Murray Sinclair in 2015, concluded that thousands of children likely died at the schools, mostly of infectious diseases. Disease spread easily in the crowded, unsafe schools, where children did not receive adequate nutrition or medical care. As a result, there are unmarked graves around many of Canada's boarded up schools, reports the Ottawa Citizen. A true figure will never be known for the simple fact that death records—if they were kept at all—were often lacking even basic personal information. “In many cases, school principals simply reported on the number of children who had died in a school, with few or no supporting details,” reads the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The grim discovery has made news around the world. Over the weekend, politicians across Canada expressed sorrow, flags were lowered to half mast, and vigils were held, with some people leaving children's shoes to remember the victims. Cindy Blackstock , who advocates for Indigenous children, told CTV the best way for the federal government to honour the memory of the children who died at the schools would be discontinue its legal battle against victims seeking compensation for harms they suffered in an underfunded child-welfare system. Residential school survivors who need support can call the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-441. A new top doc in Ontario: Dr. Kieran Moore, "the much-respected medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington," will replace Dr. David Williams as Ontario's chief medical officer of health in June. The Star reports: Moore has been one of Ontario’s most celebrated public health officials during the pandemic. He serves on the province’s vaccine task force, and was part of a panel that recently issued recommendations to the federal government on a more robust border control system. And Kingston has been a notable COVID-19 success story. As reported by the Star’s Omar Mosleh earlier this year, in the first wave Moore was quick to co-ordinate a plan with local health partners, including long-term care homes; he restricted visitors and closed non-essential services a week before the province’s first lockdown on March 24; he made masks in workplaces mandatory on June 26, more than three months before the province did. And all along, he has used his public health authority to close a high number of local businesses where the virus had been traced. Military misconduct ignored: Global News continues to uncover examples of the Canadian Forces leaders failing to deal appropriately with allegations of sexual misconduct, most recently at the Royal Military College of Canada. The former head of officer cadet training at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) says he witnessed first-hand multiple cases where sexual misconduct involving cadets was not taken as seriously as it should have been by two successive leaders at the school, which trains future military leaders. The number of Canadians who use cannabis has shot upward during the pandemic, apparently the result of lockdown-related stress. "The pandemic has certainly created the perfect storm in terms of use," Dr. Leslie Buckley, chief addictions psychiatrist at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, told the CBC. Something wrong on the right: The dismal poll numbers for Jason Kenney, Doug Ford and Brian Pallister suggest Canadian Conservatives are struggling to deal with more than just a pandemic, writes Chantal Hebert. Connect the dots between the Trumpian convictions of scores of conservative voters and the management of the pandemic and what one finds are premiers caught in the crossfire. They have been taking hits from the many voters who sought more strenuous pandemic-related restrictions and from the part of their political bases that see lockdowns as a capitulation to fear-mongering liberal elites. On the management of the pandemic, as on climate change or abortion and LGBTQ rights, the conservative movement is at war with itself. If there is a silver lining, it is for Erin O'Toole, Hebert writes, who may be freer to set his own course. — Stephen Maher | 
