VANCOUVER — The ground-penetrating radar specialist who studied the area near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia has released more details about her findings.

For educator Vanessa Pinto, the discovery of unmarked graves outside of residential schools has only strengthened her resolve to raise awareness of Indigenous history, culture and perspectives in the classroom.

Half the country is mad and three-quarters of Canadians are depressed by the discovery of 215 children in unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Residential School.

Over the past few weeks, social media has exploded with anger, sadness and shock as the bodies of hundreds of Indigenous children have been found buried at several former residential schools across Canada.

It is heartening to see Catholic clergy calling out the stream of inaccuracies and exaggerations around the ChurchöÏÓãÊÓƵapp responsibility for the residential schools debacle.

Somehow a story about hundreds of unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School became a story about what Pope Francis should do, not a story about the lives lost or why Prime Minister Justin Trudeau only rushed to provide money for documenting such graves when Kamloops was in the headlines, five years after he first promised to do so.

One of the greatest gifts a human being can give is the gift of acknowledgement: a nod, a smile, saying the personöÏÓãÊÓƵapp name out loud.

The discovery of 215 bodies of children in unmarked graves on the site of the former Kamloops Residential School in British Columbia understandably triggered a national response of outrage and mourning. Less understandable is why this particular discovery has unleashed an outpouring of grief and accountability by community leaders and politicians when the evidence of these atrocities is so well known, and when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report highlighted this issue for special mention.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi called upon the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) and the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) to devise new names for Bishop Grandin High School and Langevin School respectively.

A meeting between Pope Francis and a delegation of Canadian Indigenous people at the Vatican is being planned and expected before the end of the year.