51勛圖厙

BRANTFORD, CANADA - JUNE 27: A residential school survivor in Canada urged justice for all children, citing hundreds of unmarked child graves in the gardens of former residential schools in two provinces of the country, which he said can be genocide. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Geronimo Henry, 84, recalled his years in the Mohawk Institute residential school in Brantford city, Ontario, and said: ���I spent 11 years here at the residential school from 1942 to 1953.��� Henry, a member of the Six Nations indigenous community, said he was six years old when he was taken to the school and until he left there at the age of 17, his brother and two sisters were also brought to the school. He said his brother found a way to escape the school and never turned back, and he was not able to see his two sisters as well despite being in the same school. In Canada, 139 residential schools, which were opened by the Catholic Church in the 1800s on behalf of the Canadian government and the last one of which was closed in 1997, became places where more than 150,000 indigenous children were forcibly taken from their families during the years they operated. The Mohawk Institute residential school, which was opened in 1831 by the Catholic Church, is one of the largest in the country. It was closed in 1970 and its main building remains closed for renovation works. The school has been serving as a cultural center since 1972 with three art galleries, a history museum, and a library in the building that was built later. Noting that those 139 schools across the country were opened to collect indigenous children, Henry highlighted the reasons behind it, saying: ���Just because of their nationality or just because of their language and culture, they took that away from us. And the belief.��� My family does not believe in the church, he said, adding that as native people they have their own way of belief. (Footage by Seyit Aydogan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)