Canada’s Residential School Atrocities

At the end of May 2021, the bodies of 215 Indigenous children, some as young as 3 years old, were discovered in a mass grave at a government funded, church run Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia. Buried for decades, this horrific finding has opened many deep wounds of Canada's First Nations and Native American peoples.

The tragedy is only deepened by the fact that in the 125 plus year history of these institutions, it's estimated that over 50,000 Indigenous children died from indescribable abuses, both physical and sexual in nature, tortures, and beatings. How can the church have done such injustices? In what has been described as North America's unacknowledged genocide, many questions are left unanswered.

In what can only be described as the most painful and difficult episodes of the newly launched Indigenous Faith podcast, Craig and LaDonna Smith seek to provide insight and answers that they pray will bring comfort to wounded hearts and biblical truth that affirms no perpetrator of such injustices will go unpunished. As the Scriptures remind us in Genesis 18:25, Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? Please don't miss any of the upcoming four podcasts in this timely series of the Smith's teaching.

In what has become Craig and LaDonna Smith's most painful yet important podcast to date, they continue their response to the recent and gruesome discovery of 215 Indigenous children on the grounds of a government-funded, church-run Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia.

Craig and LaDonna are seeking to provide answers to some important and justifiable questions grieving Indigenous people throughout Native North America are raising. They are going to the only source of real, universal truth, the timeless Word of God, to remind listeners that God is not silent on evil, even when committed by those who claim they have represented Him while committing and covering up their evil deeds. No man or woman, regardless of religious affiliation, will go unpunished by the Judge of all the earth in matters of such abuse. While we cannot go back and change what happened, we all must move forward and, for those of us who are Christ followers, help in the healing of those who survived such fatal abuse and neglect, and minister God's healing to the families of those who ended up dying in North America's unacknowledged genocide.

The Smiths thoughts are presented in this four part series. They ask their listeners to be patient as, just like all their other podcasts, each weekly episode is launched at 9:00 a.m. CST every Saturday morning,. They encourage you to listen to all four episodes, because you will see how faithful in healing God can be to anyone suffering deep trauma. You'll see how God's own story, including His only Son's time on earth, is also a story of great trauma and abuse which also led to Christ's own death on a cruel cross. You'll also see how the Smiths, who both suffered from their own personal historical trauma, have found hope and healing through the very One these perpetrators claimed to represent. Please have an open heart and soul as you journey with Craig and LaDonna as they mourn the 215 children at the center of this tragedy in this part 2 of their 4 part series.

In this, the third of four episodes on the horrific discovery of the bodies of 215 children buried in a mass grave in a Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, Craig and LaDonna Smith continue to provide biblical and historical context in response to this unimaginable tragedy. They continue to unpackage how the church that claims it represents Christ could deviate off course to such a degree that some of its own clergy could be guilty of unthinkable abuse that led to over 50,000 Indigenous children dying in these Residential Schools across Canada in these school's 125 plus year history. These institutions were administered by several church groups, including primarily the Roman Catholic and Anglican Church (Church of England).

But also in this episode the Smith's turn the corner and begin to offer perspective on how God sees such action, perpetrated in His Holy Name, and how He plans to deal with those, yes even those who claimed to represent Him in a clergy role, who committed such crimes against humanity. They also offer some perspective on how we as Indigenous people need to approach this subject in a way that provides holistic healing of heart and soul.

Don't forget there is one more episode coming in this series, and it's one you don't want to miss! The Smiths are praying for you, as one of their listeners, that the God of all comfort will comfort you with His own broken and understanding heart, in a way only He can do. Craig and LaDonna have experienced that heart, and they know you can, too!

In this, the final, Part 4 episode of their series titled Mourning the 215 Children, hosts Craig and LaDonna Smith seek to provide practical and biblical answers to the many questions that arise from the gruesome discovery of the bodies of 215 Indigenous children found in a mass grave on the campus of a government funded, church run Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia. The Smiths don't want their listeners to miss that the Christ of Christianity also suffered horrific trauma, torture, and beatings on the way to the cross on which He was brutally crucified, all while those who purported to represent Him in these institutions did such unimaginable abuse and brutality that led to the deaths of these precious children.

In answering what seems to be unanswerable questions, the Smiths remind us all of the horrific sin nature in all of humanity, and seek to encourage listeners to give room in their troubled hearts for the grace, mercy, healing, and capacity to forgive that the power of the indwelling Christ offers to those who love Him enough to trust him with their lives. The Smiths conclude the series by drawing from their own stories of personal and historical trauma they endured, and how the power of the gospel has given them hope, healing, and the power to forgive. They pray their listeners will never be the same as they present the only Hope for mankind through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Himself!

May the Spirit of God bring comfort to the hearts and souls of especially those still living who were the survivors of such atrocities, and the families of all those who lost their lives through the violent and deadly acts committed by the hands of those who knew better, yet chose to sin gravely and caused such great pain to generations that followed.