Report says at least 55 children died or disappeared at B.C. residential school

A British Columbia First Nation says at least 55 children died or disappeared while attending a residential school near Williams Lake, more than triple the number recorded for the institution in the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation memorial register.

The figure is contained in an interim report into the St. Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential School by the Williams Lake First Nation.

It says investigators will finalize ground-penetrating radar surveys this year and hold meetings on potential excavation, exhumation, repatriation, DNA testing, and genealogical mapping before any decision on digging up possible graves.

It says no confirmed human remains have been found to date while telling skeptics there is an “overwhelming abundance of evidence” supporting the legitimacy of the investigation that is being compiled in a scientific way.

Investigators have previously said two separate searches using ground-penetrating radar at the former school site had detected 159 possible unmarked graves.

The Catholic-run school operated from 1891 to 1981 about 500 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, and the area being searched covers 782 hectares of land.

“Some Canadians find it threatening or uncomfortable that residential school investigations are causing us to scrutinize our colonial history and acknowledge the damage caused by systems, policies, and institutions promoted in our country for generations,” the report released on Friday concludes.

“To those Canadians, we point out that the discomfort caused by a re-evaluation of orthodox history is an unavoidable part of bringing truth to light. It’s a necessary and healthy part of our evolution and growth as a nation.”

The report says the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation memorial register lists 16 children by name as having died while under the school’s care.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press