In Canada, protests and vigils replaced many of the usual festivities marking Canada Day, following the recent discovery of graves and remains of First Nations children at government-run schools. In Saskatchewan, protesters laid backpacks covered in orange handprints on the steps of the Legislative Building, representing the unmarked graves of Indigenous children found near the Marieval Residential School in late June.

Protesters: “No pride in genocide! No pride in genocide!”

In Manitoba, protesters toppled a statue of Queen Victoria in front of the provincial Legislative Building. Many Indigenous people in Canada already long rejected the annual July 1 holiday. Lawyer Lori Idlout said on Twitter, “Today, I celebrate Canada’s failure to eradicate indigenous peoples, coast to coast to coast. We are here, we are strong.”