182 human remains discovered in anonymous graves near a former boarding school

(CNN) – A search has revealed 182 human remains in unidentified graves at the site of another residential school in British Columbia.

The Lower Kootenay Band, a member band of the Ktunaxa nation, announced that remains were found at the site of the former St. Eugene’s Mission School near the town of Cranbrook.

This announcement comes after hundreds of unnamed graves believed to contain the remains of indigenous children were recently discovered at the sites of two other former internees in Canada. Many First Nations (also known as First Nations of Canada) communities called for an end to the Canada Day celebrations this Thursday.

“The remains of these 182 souls are believed to be those of members of the Ktunaxa nation, neighboring First Nations communities and the Aqam community,” the Lower Kootenay First Nation said in a statement issued Wednesday.

A search by the Aqam community using ground penetrating radar showed that some of the human remains were buried in shallow graves approximately 1 meter deep. Aqam is a community member of the Ktunaxa nation.

Approximately 100 members of the Lower Kootenay First Nation were required to attend St. Eugene’s Mission School. The residential school was operated by the Roman Catholic Church from 1912 through the early 1970s, according to the statement. The Canadian government ordered that indigenous children between the ages of 7 and 15 attend schools.

Lucy Sager visits a memorial site near the old boarding school.

“Lower Kootenay First Nation is still in the early stages of receiving information from the findings reports, but will provide updates as time progresses,” the statement said. “Lower Kootenay First Nation has surviving survivors of St. Eugene’s Mission School and requests that the general public respect our privacy at this time.”

The discovery of human remains at former residential school sites comes as Canadian authorities investigate multiple fires that destroyed four Catholic churches on indigenous lands last week.

They are the latest in a series of recent events affecting the country’s indigenous communities. The churches were destroyed as Canada grapples with its history of systemic abuse of indigenous communities.

CNN reached out to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Archdiocese of Vancouver to comment on the fires.

While authorities have not discussed a possible motive for the fires, the chief and council of the Lower Similkameen Indigenous Band said in a statement Saturday that they understand the “pain and anger” felt by people across the indigenous country following the discovery of the remains of hundreds of children on the grounds of a former school in the southern interior of British Columbia.

“This is a symptom of the intergenerational trauma our survivors and intergenerational descendants are experiencing, there are supports to help deal with these emotions in a more healing way,” said the leaders of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band.

CNN’s Nicole Chavez and Harmeet Kaur contributed to this report.