The preliminary discovery last week of the remains of 215 Indigenous children - students of Canada's largest residential school - has prompted nationwide outrage and calls for further searches of unmarked graves. Here's what we know so far.

The announcement gave an early look at an ongoing investigation by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in western Canada into the deaths of residential school students.

These government-run boarding schools were part of policy to attempt to assimilate Indigenous children and destroy Indigenous cultures and languages.

What do we know about the preliminary findings?
Last week, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Rosanne Casimir announced that the remains of 215 children had been found near the city of Kamloops in southern British Columbia.

Some of remains are believed to be of children as young as three.

All of the children had been students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School - the largest such institution in Canada's residential school system.

The remains had been confirmed days before with the help of ground-penetrating radar technology, Chief Casimir said, following preliminary work on identifying the burial sites in the early 2000s.

The full report into the remains found is due in mid-June, and the preliminary findings may be revised. Indigenous leaders and advocates have said they expect the 215 figure to rise.

"Regrettably, we know that many more children are unaccounted for," said Chief Casimir in a statement last week.

Thousands of children died in residential schools and their bodies rarely returned home. Many were buried in neglected graves.

To this day there is no full picture of the number of children who died, the circumstances of their deaths, or where they are buried. Efforts like those of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation are helping to piece some of that history together.

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