Vancouver. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has criticized attacks on the Catholic Church after bodies were found in former schools for Indigenous children. Trudeau said on Friday that he understood people’s anger towards the government and the church. Trudeau, a Catholic, said, “I have to think that burning down churches is really giving people the grief and the healing (…) that they need, where they can grieve and reflect and ask for support.”

Several churches have been damaged recently. Statues of former British Queen Victoria and other historical figures were also attacked on Thursday, Canada’s National Day.

Previously, hundreds of bodies were found in the area from three previous Catholic Church-run schools in the provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Aboriginal children had to go to school there.

A statue of Queen Victoria is painted red in the Manitoba provincial parliament. Hundreds of little shoes were placed behind it to remind the children going to church schools.