Image Credit: Pool camera

By Canadian Press

Residential Schools

Prime Minister visits Williams Lake First Nation

Mar 30, 2022 | 12:42 PM

WILLIAMS LAKE – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was greeted with drumming, singing and dancing when he arrived at Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia.

He was also given a drum made with materials from the community’s territory.

Trudeau visits the community as a search is underway for suspected bodies of children buried at a former residential school.

He told the ceremony that “all of Canada grieves with this community,” and he is there to “listen and learn.”

The chief of a First Nation that’s searching for unmarked graves at a former residential school in British Columbia says they’re looking for long-term funding as they prepared for today’s visit by the Prime Minister.

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Chief Willie Sellars from Williams Lake First Nation says his community along with others conducting similar investigations at former government-funded, church-run institutions across Canada need financial support for their work from start to finish.

He says reconciliation starts with a healthy community, and they also need long-term funding to support the mental health and well-being of residential school survivors, their families, and Indigenous communities.

The First Nation in B.C.’s central interior announced in January that a preliminary geophysical investigation had found 93 “reflections” that could indicate children buried around the site of the former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School.

He says they need Ottawa to provide complete records about the institution, along with support in urging the Roman Catholic church to do the same, as they work to identify children who never returned home.

Sellars says the federal government’s role in advancing reconciliation should also include support for economic development and key community needs, like housing.

The investigation at St. Joseph’s came after ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be more than 200 graves at a former institution in Kamloops last year.

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.