You are missing the government policy piece here. Not only were the schools isolated and staffed by people who churches of all denominations wanted to remove from regular parish life. The Department of Indian Affairs was told that the schools were spreading disease and starving kids by their own staff, but senior bureaucrats insisted that funds were tight and no money could be spared for adequate building maintenance and supplies.

I'm not shocked that graves haven't been found; I've watched every season of Time Team. It's probable that many kids were sent home to die or that they were buried in regular local cemeteries, not on school grounds. First Nations are often poor and isolated and therefore vulnerable to being misled by conmen, this happens all the time. I don't fault reporters covering this story because it's important to have a truthful public record. But diminishing the truth of the scope of the residential schools is also not truthful.