The Tsilhqot’in Nation is calling for all sites of former residential schools to be searched like the Kamloops Residential School was.
“The events that happened in Kamloops are not isolated events,” says Tsilhqot’in Nation Nits’il?in (Chief) Joe Alphonse, “Our elders have told us what happened. Children died, we know that. The discovery of remains of 215 children is evidence that nobody wanted to believe – refused to believe.”
The Nation says these sites need to be further investigated to know the truth of Residential schools in BC. One of these sites includes the St. Joseph’s Mission near Williams Lake, where the Tsilhqot’in National Government says Tsilhqot’in children never returned from.
“Canada and the Catholic Church have a responsibility to address and apologize for their involvement with this atrocity,” says Nits’il?in Alphonse, These Residential Schools were not about education but were about eliminating Indigenous Peoples. We call for a full investigation at all REsidential School lands including St. Joseph Mission in order to bring closure to our families who had their children disappear.”
Alphonse says the TNG is organizing an emergency ground ceremony in the Chilcotin, with local and regional Chiefs in the wake of the 215 children’s bodies found.