The City of Windsor is joining communities across Canada in lowering flags at its buildings to half-mast in memory of 215 children who died at a former residential school in British Columbia.
The bodies of the children were found buried at a school in Kamloops, which was once the country's largest residential school. They were found last week with the help of ground-penetrating radar, and some were as young as three years old.
In response, Canadian flags at all municipal buildings and along the riverfront will be lowered.
The Greater Essex County District School Board is also lowering flags at all schools and the board office in Windsor.
Caldwell First Nation wrote the Prime Minister asking that flags at federal government buildings also be flown at half-mast. The Department of Canadian Heritage said it would honour the request until further notice.
"A mass grave containing 215 children was discovered on the site of a former Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia and is just another stark example of the violence inflicted upon Indigenous people," said the letter from the Caldwell First Nation. "These children were loved and should never have been removed from their families."
The First Nation in Leamington will start a period of mourning on Monday that will last 215 hours, one hour for each child. Members will also wear orange in their honour.
"We encourage and ask that all Canadians do the same in recognition of these innocent children who suffered at the hands of the Canadian Government's Residential Schools which were funded by the Department of Indian Affairs and run by Christian churches," continued the letter.
The residential schools ran from the 19th Century until the 1990s, where an estimated 6,000 Indigenous children died. The school in Kamloops operated from 1890 to 1969.
