Muted Canada Day celebrations as country reckons with dark colonial history

Multiple cities scrapped Canada Day celebrations on Thursday after the discovery of hundreds of remains of children in unmarked graves at former indigenous schools sparked a reckoning with the country`s colonial past.

OTTAWA: Multiple cities scrapped Canada Day celebrations on Thursday after the discovery of hundreds of remains of children in unmarked graves at former indigenous schools sparked a reckoning with the country`s colonial past. Calls to scale back or cancel celebrations snowballed after, beginning in May, almost 1,000 unmarked graves were found at former residential schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan that were mainly run by the Catholic Church and funded by the government. Traditionally the holiday is celebrated with backyard barbecues and fireworks much like July 4 in the United States, however this year Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the day would be "a time for reflection."