Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Chad Klassen

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL UPDATE

Tk’emlups chief seeks Catholic Church apology, says school records have not been handed over

Jun 4, 2021 | 4:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Tk’emlups Chief Rosanne Casimir says the final report of the Kamloops residential school findings will be released at the end of the month.

Tk’emlups te Secwepemc hosted a media conference over Zoom on Friday morning (June 4) with an update on the investigation. On the same day that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau renewed calls for an apology from the Catholic Church, Casimir says it’s important step in healing.

“In the end, what we do want? We want an apology — a public apology. Not just for us, but for the world which shared in those suffrages. Holding the Catholic Church to account; there has never been an apology from the Roman Catholics,” she said.

Casimir claims it has not received any records from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the religious order that ran the Kamloops residential school from 1890 to 1969 when the federal government took over.

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Responding to Casimir’s claim, a spokesperson for the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate says as part of its formal apology in 1991, the records it had were handed over to the Royal BC Museum in Victoria and it does not have anything left.

“One of the commitments we made at that time was to make available documents related to the residential school,” Father Ken Thorson told CFJC Today over Zoom on Friday. “Over the years, we’ve worked increasingly at honouring that promise, that part of the apology.”

In the report that is released later this month, there will also be more information on how the ground-penetrating technology was used in the preliminary discovery.

“We will be sharing the findings, including the technical aspects, with our community and with the home communities of the lost children,” said Casimir. Casimir says there will be a National Day of Prayer this Sunday (June 6) at 10:00 a.m. for the 215 children found.