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Bodies of 215 children are found in mass grave at Catholic Church-run 'Indian residential school' as ex-student recalls how classmates would vanish and PM Justin Trudeau brands discovery 'shameful' Remains of 215 children have been found at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia in Canada The remains were found with the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist after long-held suspicions about the fate of missing students One survivor told how children would suddenly disappear from the school without explanation, and sexual and physical abuse was common Many of those killed are feared to have died of diseases including tuberculosis, with survivors recalling how they endured physical and sexual abuse Canada's residential school system forcibly separated more then 150,000 indigenous children from their families from 1863 to 1998 A six-year Truth and Reconciliation Commission into the now-defunct system found in 2015 that it constituted 'cultural genocide' The latest discovery is the first time a mass burial site has been found and is expected to set of a 'wave of litigation' Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has described the discovery as 'heartbreaking' An artist displayed 215 pairs of children's shoes on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery to create a space for 'grief, reflection' The remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, have been found buried at a former residential school for indigenous children in Canada. Those youngsters were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978, according to the Tk'emlúps te Secwepemc Nation, which said the remains were found with the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist. None of them have been identified, and it remains unclear how they died. 'This is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions,' British Columbia premier John Horgan said in a statement, adding he was 'horrified and heartbroken' that 215 bodies had been found at the site. 'It's a harsh reality and it's our truth, it's our history,' Tk'emlúps te Secwepemc Chief Rosanne Casimir told a media conference Friday. 'And it's something that we've always had to fight to prove. To me, it's always been a horrible, horrible history.' Casimir said they had begun searching for the remains of missing children at the school grounds in the early 2000s, as they had long suspected official explanations of runaway children were part of a cover-up by the state. Canada's residential school system, which forcibly separated indigenous children from their families, constituted 'cultural genocide,' a six-year investigation into the now-defunct system found in 2015. The system was created by Christian churches and the Canadian government in the 19th century in an attempt to 'assimilate' and convert indigenous youngsters into Canadian society. They were forcibly removed from their families to attend the schools. Many of the children found dead are feared to have suffered deadly diseases including tuberculosis, although survivors say physical and sexual abuse was rife. The National Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada documented horrific physical abuse, rape, malnutrition and other atrocities suffered by many of the 150,000 children who attended the schools, typically run by Christian churches on behalf of state governments from the 1840s to the 1990s. It found more than 4,100 children died while attending residential schools. The deaths of the 215 children buried in the grounds of what was once Canada's largest residential school are believed to not have been included in that figure and appear to have been undocumented until the discovery shared on Friday. Survivors who attended the school say had friends and classmates who disappeared suddenly, and were never spoken of again. A survivor of the Kamloops school, Chief Harvey McLeod of the Upper Nicola Band, said the gruesome discovery had brought up painful memories of his time there. McLeod was taken to the school in 1966 with seven of his siblings, and says he suffered physical and sexual abuse there. His parents had also attended the school, and said it must have been traumatizing for them dropping off their children knowing the misery that awaited them. 'I lost my heart, it was so much hurt and pain to finally hear, for the outside world, to finally hear what we assumed was happening there,' McLeod told CNN. The children whose remains were found were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia (pictured) that closed in 1978 The remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, were found at the site. Many area feared to have succumbed to diseases including TB, although abuse was rife at the school Chief Harvey McLeod, of the Upper Nicola Band, said children would go missing from the Kamloops residential school and never be heard from again Children would disappear suddenly from the residential facility, and no one would question where they had gone. 'It was assumed that they ran away and were never going to come back. We just never seen them again and nobody ever talked about them,' he told CTV. Chief McLeod said despite the pain and trauma that the discovery had resurfaced, he hoped it would allow he and other survivors to heal. 'I have forgiven, I have forgiven my parents, I have forgiven my abusers, I have broken the chain that held me back at that school, I don't want to live there anymore but at the same time make sure that the people who didn't come home are acknowledged and respected and brought home in a good way,' he told CNN. Another survivor Jeanette Jules said the news had 'triggered memories hurt, and pain'. Jules, who now works a a counsellor with Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Indian Band, said she was haunted by memories of the guards coming to the children's rooms at night. 'I would hear clunk, clunk...and it is one of the security guards...then the whimpers,...the whimpers because here is the guy who molests people,' she told CTV. The Canadian PM Trudeau wrote in a tweet that the news 'breaks my heart - it is a painful reminder of that dark and shameful chapter of our country's history.' The Kamloops Indian Residential School in 1937. The school was established in 1890 and operated until 1969, its roll peaking at 500 during the 1950s Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9630875/Remains-215-children-former-indigenous-school-site-Canada.html