The union representing B.C. teachers said it is asking for school districts across the province to fly flags at half-mast next week in honour of the 215 Indigenous children found dead on the grounds of a Kamloops residential school.
The discovery of the bodies was confirmed Thursday (May 27) by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. The Kamloops Indian Residential School operated from the late 1800s until 1977 and the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc said there were as many as 500 children enrolled at the school at one time. The children’s remains were found by using ground penetrating radar.
The B.C. Teachers’ Federation said it will be working with its local unions to organize orange shirt walk-ins next week in honour of the children. Orange Shirt Day is officially held in September each year to commemorate the experience Indigenous peoples endured in residential schools, to honour the healing of survivors and their families and to continue to work towards reconciliation.
National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.
We will be working with our #bced locals across BC next week to organize orange shirt walk-ins to honour the 215 dead children found at the Kamloops Residential School. We are also asking school districts to lower all flags to half-mast. #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/a55hPi5mUA
— BCTF (@bctf) May 30, 2021
READ MORE: Remains of 215 children found at former residential school in Kamloops
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