The TTC is pausing full service this week for two minutes in remembrance of the 215 Indigenous children found buried in a mass grave at the former site of a residential school in Kamloops, BC.
According to spokesperson Stuart Green, on Tuesday, June 1 at 2:15 pm, all TTC services will pause for two minutes.
The TTC will be just one of many memorials taking place across the country following last week’s revelation that the remains of 215 Indigenous children had been found on the former grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation grounds.
The missing children -- some as young as three years old -- were undocumented deaths, said the First Nation.
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Flags have also been lowered to half-mast at federal, provincial, and municipal buildings, while vigils have sprung up across the country.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement regarding the flags on Twitter on Sunday.
"To honour the 215 children whose lives were taken at the former Kamloops residential school and all Indigenous children who never made it home, the survivors, and their families, I have asked that the Peace Tower flag and flags on all federal buildings be flown at half-mast," Trudeau tweeted.
Toronto Mayor John Tory that flags on city property would be lowered, and the Toronto sign dimmed for 215 hours, or nine days, to represent each child.
"I have spoken with Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation Chief Stacey Laforme this weekend and he has asked for our ceremonial flags to be lowered to mourn this unspeakable tragedy," said Tory.
Other memorials include rows of tiny children's shoes being left on the steps of churches and public buildings, representing the magnitude of the lives lost.
The Kamloops school was operated by the Roman Catholic Church between 1890 and 1969. The federal government took over the operation from the Catholic Church to operate as a day school until it closed in 1978.
At one point, the school was the largest in Canada's residential school system, and it’s suspected that other schools may have similar gravesites.
