File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Residential Schools

Williams Lake First Nation purchases site of former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School

Sep 5, 2023 | 12:18 PM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) has announced the purchase of the private property upon which the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School operated for 90 years.

The First Nation announced the purchase Tuesday (Sept. 5). The acquisition was made with funding from the province of B.C.

St. Joseph’s Mission operated between 1891 and 1981, with orders of the Roman Catholic Church running the school throughout much of its history.

It housed and taught children taken from more than 40 Indigenous communities.

The purchase protects the land from potential future development.

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“It has long been the goal of WLFN’s current and previous Councils to see this property preserved and protected,” said WLFN Kukpi7 Willie Sellars in a news release. “WLFN can now ensure the integrity of the investigation on this portion of the site, and we can start to think longer term about how to honour and acknowledge the children that disappeared from St. Joseph’s Mission and the generations of children that were torn from their families and forced to attend there.”

Preliminary investigation led by WLFN since September 2021 has found indications of 159 burials on lands associated with the residential school.

For more information, visit this page.

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For more information:

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Support Resources:

KUU-US Crisis Line: 1-800-588-8717

Tsow-Tun-Le Lum: 1-866-403-3123

Indian Residential School Survivors Society Toll-Free Line: 1-800-721-0066

24hr National Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419

For WLFN-specific resources, visit this page.