Nearly 200 unmarked graves found at Canada indigenous school as churches set ablaze

Another 182 unmarked graves were discovered at a third former indigenous residential school in Canada as two Catholic Churches went up in flames on Wednesday, with anger mounting over the mushrooming abuse scandal.

The Lower Kootenay Band said experts using ground-penetrating radar mapping located what are believed to be the remains of pupils aged 7 to 15 at the former St Eugene's Mission School near Cranbrook, British Columbia.

Some of the graves are as shallow as 90 centimeters to 1.2 meters. They are believed to be the remains of members of bands of the Ktunaxa nation, which includes the Lower Kootenay, and neighboring indigenous communities.

The Catholic Church operated the school on behalf of the federal government from 1912 until the early 1970s.

The grim development follows the discovery of remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia in May and 751 more unmarked graves at another school in Marieval, Saskatchewan last week.

At a news conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said these "horrific discoveries" have forced Canadians "to reflect on the historic and ongoing injustices that Indigenous peoples have faced."

He urged all to participate in reconciliation, while denouncing vandalism and arson of churches across the country.

"The destruction of places of worship is not acceptable, and it must stop," he said. "We must work together to right past wrongs. Everyone has a role to play."

In the early morning, two churches went up in flames amid growing calls for a papal apology over abuses at Canada's residential schools.

The latest blazes brought to eight the number of churches across Canada destroyed or damaged by suspicious fires, most of them in indigenous communities, in recent days.

Until the 1990s, 150,000 Indian, Inuit and Metis youngsters were forcibly enrolled in the schools, where students were physically and sexually abused and stripped of their culture and language. More than 4,000 died of disease and neglect.