residential schools

The B.C. government says the Williams Lake First Nation is planning to excavate the site of a former residential school to recover possible human remains and has signed an agreement with the province and RCMP to guide the process. Flowers are seen on a fence surrounding a cemetery on the former grounds of St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, in Williams Lake, B.C., Wednesday, March 30, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

B.C. First Nation prepares for potential school site excavation

Province, RCMP sign on to help Williams Lake First Nation with project

 

Lejac Residential School survivor Mary Nooski, left, 80, of the Stellat’en First Nation, and Kamloops Indian Residential School survivor Stanley Paul, 75, who was forced into the school when he was 7 and escaped by running away to the United States when he was 16, share a laugh outside the former school, in Kamloops, B.C., on Friday, June 4, 2021. The remains of 215 children have been discovered buried near the former school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Chief says grave search at B.C. residential school brings things ‘full circle’

Gathering of more than 20 First Nations share knowledge gained in their search for unmarked graves

 

British Columbia's provincial flag flies on a flagpole in Ottawa on July 3, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

B.C. First Nation surveys school site as it hosts meeting on unmarked graves

Nadleh Whut’en Indian Band looking for anomalies at site of former Lejac Residential School

 

Nadleh Whut’en chief Chun’ih (Martin Louie) called on Quesnel mayor Ron Paull to resign over Paull’s distribution attempts of a book that downplayed residential school atrocities. (Frank Peebles photo - Quesnel Cariboo Observer)

First Nations leaders ask B.C. mayor to resign in wake of book controversy

Government leaders call on Quesnel mayor to resign his position, Ron Paull so far declines

Nadleh Whut’en chief Chun’ih (Martin Louie) called on Quesnel mayor Ron Paull to resign over Paull’s distribution attempts of a book that downplayed residential school atrocities. (Frank Peebles photo - Quesnel Cariboo Observer)
Ahousaht First Nation released the archaeological findings Wednesday (April 10, 2024) into the Catholic Church-run Christie Indian Residential School and the Ahousaht Indian Residential School. (Andrew Bailey)

Residential school sites host potential unmarked graves: Ahousaht First Nation

Scanning, document combing continues as project looks to reveal truths of former students

Ahousaht First Nation released the archaeological findings Wednesday (April 10, 2024) into the Catholic Church-run Christie Indian Residential School and the Ahousaht Indian Residential School. (Andrew Bailey)
A sign of an orange shirt is attached to a fence during a Truth and Reconciliation walk in Saskatoon, Sask., on Friday, September 30, 2022. In B.C., residential school survivors and their family members will no longer have mental health care covered as of April 15, 2024, unless they have official First Nations status. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu

Free counselling cut for non-status residential school survivors in B.C.

Health authority says mental health care only offered to those with First Nations status going forward

A sign of an orange shirt is attached to a fence during a Truth and Reconciliation walk in Saskatoon, Sask., on Friday, September 30, 2022. In B.C., residential school survivors and their family members will no longer have mental health care covered as of April 15, 2024, unless they have official First Nations status. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Heywood Yu
A child’s dress is seen on a cross outside a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., Sunday, June 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Easter covenant expected to fuel residential school healing in Kamloops

Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, Catholic Church announce pending new agreement

A child’s dress is seen on a cross outside a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., Sunday, June 13, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Quesnel mayor Ron Paull answers ‘no,’ to the question from Coun. Scott Elliott regarding whether he agreed with what his wife was doing. (Screenshot of Quesnel City Council meeting)

Quesnel mayor’s wife stirs outrage over residential school denialism

Mayor Ron Paull disassociates himself from book Pat Morton circulated

Quesnel mayor Ron Paull answers ‘no,’ to the question from Coun. Scott Elliott regarding whether he agreed with what his wife was doing. (Screenshot of Quesnel City Council meeting)
An historical photograph of St. Joseph’s Mission and Industrial School in the Cariboo. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin)

Documentary on B.C. residential school wins Sundance directing award

Sugarcane tells the story of the children who were abused and who disappeared entirely

An historical photograph of St. Joseph’s Mission and Industrial School in the Cariboo. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin)
Shane Douglas (left), teacher at Seabird Island Community School, and Isadore Charters stand by the bookshelf that was modified and repainted by Douglas’s class. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)

Refurbished bookshelf doubles as reconciliation project in Chilliwack

Agassiz students paint Halq’eméylem words with English translations on Rotary bookshelf

Shane Douglas (left), teacher at Seabird Island Community School, and Isadore Charters stand by the bookshelf that was modified and repainted by Douglas’s class. (Jenna Hauck/ Chilliwack Progress)
Archie Chantyman rests after his long march for truth and healing from his home Lhoosk’uz Dene Nation back to the site of St. Joseph’s Mission where he and many other Indigenous children were interned in residential school. (Araiah Fraser photo)

Public residential school awareness growing across Canada, study shows

However researchers conclude more needs to be done to educate people on their lasting impact

Archie Chantyman rests after his long march for truth and healing from his home Lhoosk’uz Dene Nation back to the site of St. Joseph’s Mission where he and many other Indigenous children were interned in residential school. (Araiah Fraser photo)
The Survivors’ Flag hangs to honour Indigenous Peoples who were forced to attend residential schools, on the grounds of the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)

Feds pause $2M residential school unmarked grave consultant contract

Decision to hire international firm criticized by those who say project should be Indigineous-led

The Survivors’ Flag hangs to honour Indigenous Peoples who were forced to attend residential schools, on the grounds of the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Wednesday, September 28, 2022. (Chad Hipolito/Canadian Press)
Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. Virani is “considering the options,” raised by the independent adviser on unmarked graves, who says Indigenous leaders want Canada to move on criminalizing residential school denialism. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Special interlocutor ‘waiting’ for bill criminalizing residential school denialism

Feds made Holocaust denialism illegal last year

Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. Virani is “considering the options,” raised by the independent adviser on unmarked graves, who says Indigenous leaders want Canada to move on criminalizing residential school denialism. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
FILE -Russell Eagle Bear, with the Rosebud Sioux Reservation Tribal Council, talks to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland during a meeting about Native American boarding schools at Sinte Gleska University in Mission, S.D., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Haaland plans to be in Bozeman, Mont. Sunday to wrap up her nationwide tour confronting the legacy of the institutions where students were often abused. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

Survivors say trauma from abusive Native American boarding schools continues

An report released by the Interior Department identified 408 government-backed schools in 37 states

FILE -Russell Eagle Bear, with the Rosebud Sioux Reservation Tribal Council, talks to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland during a meeting about Native American boarding schools at Sinte Gleska University in Mission, S.D., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. Haaland plans to be in Bozeman, Mont. Sunday to wrap up her nationwide tour confronting the legacy of the institutions where students were often abused. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)
In this historic photo from the Archives Deschâtelets-NDC, children gather in front of the old Christie Residential School on Meares Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island near Tofino. The date the photo was taken is unknown. (Archives Deschâtelets-NDC)

Scholar debunks residential school denialism and so-called `mass grave hoax’

A Q&A with historian and Indigenous studies professor Sean Carleton

  • Oct 22, 2023
In this historic photo from the Archives Deschâtelets-NDC, children gather in front of the old Christie Residential School on Meares Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island near Tofino. The date the photo was taken is unknown. (Archives Deschâtelets-NDC)
Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad speaks at a meet-and-greet in Vernon on Friday, July 7, 2023. Rustad is being criticized for making a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that compared gender education to residential schools. (Black Press Media file photo)

B.C. Conservative leader compares gender education to residential schools

Rustad criticized for pushing parental rights movement on National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad speaks at a meet-and-greet in Vernon on Friday, July 7, 2023. Rustad is being criticized for making a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that compared gender education to residential schools. (Black Press Media file photo)
People march together at the University of British Columbia for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. The federal statutory holiday recognizes abuses suffered by Inuit, First Nations and Metis people at hundreds of state and church-run residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

‘A shared responsibility’: quotes from the 3rd Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Hundreds gathered across Canada to mark the day on Saturday

People march together at the University of British Columbia for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Vancouver, B.C., Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023. The federal statutory holiday recognizes abuses suffered by Inuit, First Nations and Metis people at hundreds of state and church-run residential schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
Karlene Harvey is the illustrator of the new Every Child Matters children’s book. (Medicine Wheel Publishing photo)

Indigenous artist teams with Orange Shirt Day founder for new children’s book

Phyllis Webstad, Tsilhqot’in artist to bring Every Child Matters to life for children 6 and up

Karlene Harvey is the illustrator of the new Every Child Matters children’s book. (Medicine Wheel Publishing photo)
The Yukon territorial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020.An investigation into unmarked graves and missing children who attended the former Chooutla Residential School in Carcross, Yukon, has found 15 “potential” gravesites at or near the school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Yukon First Nation says 15 potential graves found at residential school site

Findings released in probe at Chooutla Residential School in Carcross, south of Whitehorse

The Yukon territorial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020.An investigation into unmarked graves and missing children who attended the former Chooutla Residential School in Carcross, Yukon, has found 15 “potential” gravesites at or near the school. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
BC Green party Leader Sonia Furstenau, (left to right) BC United MLA Michael Lee, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin, MLA Joan Phillips and MLA Raj Chouhan raise the Survivors’ Flag to honour the hundreds of children who never returned home from residential schools, during a ceremony at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

B.C. raises Survivors’ Flag to honour National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Speaker says Survivors’ Flag welcome at a building that has been a physical symbol of colonialism

BC Green party Leader Sonia Furstenau, (left to right) BC United MLA Michael Lee, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin, MLA Joan Phillips and MLA Raj Chouhan raise the Survivors’ Flag to honour the hundreds of children who never returned home from residential schools, during a ceremony at the legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito