Though there is a documented cemetery on the grounds and within the area that is under investigation, project manager Whitney Spearing believes that 50 of the 93 unmarked graves are not attached to or otherwise connected to that known cemetery.
Ongoing discoveries continue to reveal the depth of pain caused by residential schools
By Matthew Fraser, Editor in Chief
On January 25, Williams Lake First Nations Chief Willie Sellars delivered an emotional news conference to share the preliminary findings of the former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School investigation. CBC reported that this initial discovery was based on an examination of 14 out of 470 hectares marked for scrutiny. CBC quotes Chief Sellars as saying: “This reawakening in Indian country has allowed us to start the process of healing.”
The Williams Lake Tribune reported that the investigations focused on “areas of the Mission around the school building, barn and corrals as well as portions of the nearby Onward Ranch and railroad right-of-way in the San Jose Valley…” Though there is a documented cemetery on the grounds and within the area that is under investigation, project manager Whitney Spearing believes that 50 of the 93 unmarked graves are not attached to or otherwise connected to that known cemetery.
Alongside the discovery of the graves, there has been a renewed conversation on the extent and magnitude of the abuse carried out in the residential schools under investigation. The Star quotes Chief Sellars as saying that any request over the intercom for a child to go to the office was a strong predictor that “someone was about to be raped.” Though some of the attacks and abuse that Indigenous children faced were uncovered during the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Chief Sellars’s comments hint at the unaddressed memories that linger. As such, Sellars stated: “It is important that these investigations remain in the public eye… That we, as a nation, continue in an unwavering path forward in our pursuit of the truth with respect to St. Joseph’s Mission and other residential schools in Canada.”
Global News reported the operational dates of the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School span from 1886 to 1981. In 1902, one child died of exposure while trying to escape, another child died after intentionally ingesting poisonous water hemlock and eight others were injured for the same reason. Sellars also stated that the Residential school used Indigenous children as slave labour. Additionally, between the 1980s and the 1990s, two former staff members pleaded guilty to sexually abusing students at the St. Joseph’s Mission.
The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council issued a statement on the same day as Chief Sellars’s announcement which stated in part: “Our hearts [are] broken thinking of such a dark end to the lives of 93 beautiful children who could have had good, meaningful lives and contributed to our communities.” The statement also expressed the sorrow of Vice-President Mariah Charleson as she considered the suffering that many of the children faced at that time including “the rapes, the beatings, the burning of babies, [and] the countless inhumane acts of genocide inflicted on our people.”
In their statement, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council urged Canadians to work together to make sure that such atrocities do not reoccur but also to reveal the truth of these events to the world. In their statement, they acknowledge that ongoing discoveries “[create] a great gap between governments, churches and First Nations” but that all parties need to “find resolutions for these insidious practices and set aside the dark history.”
The announcement of these unmarked graves follows close behind a statement from Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller that his department will willingly turn over thousands of residential school documents. These reports will contain “School Narratives” tracing an institution’s major events and history including administration, attendance records and history of abuse.
Reporting from CBC puts the number of documents to be delivered at over 875,000. Though the Canadian government had previously been criticized for withholding these documents, they had claimed that “third-party obligations” prevented their previous release.
