Residential school society offers support after St. Joseph’s Mission School tragedy

Feb 18, 2022 | News

The Williams Lake First Nation announced that after a nine-month investigation, a ground radar search was able to detect what appeared to be 93 unmarked graves.

Located in the Cariboo Region of B.C., the Williams Lake First Nation has been home to Secwepemc for more than 6,500 years and has actively investigated the residential school crisis for many years.

The bodies were found at St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, a place that was predominantly known to survivors as horrific and traumatic.

The St. Joseph’s school operated between 1886 and 1981 and was predominantly run by Roman Catholic missionaries but has since been demolished.

The investigation into the sites at St. Joseph’s comes months after the announcement of more than 200 burial sites found in Kamloops, B.C., about 280 kilometres to the south.

Chief Willie Sellars of Williams Lake First Nation says this tragic news will evoke truth for the next generation in understanding and recognizing the tragedy First Nations communities faced across Canada.

Accusations of child slave labour and domestic violence were made by surviving victims of the school.

In response to the Williams Lake preliminary hearing, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin said these new findings bring back painful memories that have not been buried.

“With this news, residential school survivors, intergenerational survivors, their friends and families are forced again to confront a tragedy that contributes to the trauma impacting communities to this day,” he said.

Support services will be offered to those affected by the residential school crisis as it has proven the strength of the Indigenous community to find answers that will educate society as a whole, Rankin said.

The Indian Residential School Survivors Society (IRSSS) is an organization dedicated to helping those who have been affected by the residential school system in any way.

Since news of this tragedy surfaced, the IRSSS has received substantial requests for support and calls from people in crisis all over Canada.

Workshop Coordinator and Support Worker at the IRSSS Wesley Scott said residential schools were “oppressive in design and cold in their construction, more closely resembling penitentiaries than schools.”

More than 150,000 Indigenous children, First Nations, Inuit and Metis, were forced to attend these abusive and neglectful institutions of assimilation and oppression, the IRSSS stated.

Scott said the trauma induced by the Indian Residential School system has had intergenerational impacts that affect many Indigenous peoples today.

Learning about the impacts of the school system, actively listening to people from First Nations, Metis and Inuit backgrounds, supporting Indigenous-led organizations and being patient, empathetic and receptive are some things the public can do to support this cause, Scott said.

The IRSSS is one of many organizations that continues to support the Indigenous community through healing and awareness.

“It is our belief that we can progress towards greater truth and reconciliation and affirm the idea that every child matters,” Scott said.

Anyone seeking support or more information on the Indian Residential School System can locate the IRSSS at https://www.irsss.ca.