(Williams Lake) Children drummed to welcome Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as he arrived at Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia on Wednesday.
Posted at 6:20 p.m.
Prime Minister says visit shows ‘all of Canada is in mourning’ with community after 93 unmarked graves discovered that may indicate burial grounds of children in vicinity of Mission boarding school building of Saint Joseph.
Trudeau said he was primarily in Williams Lake to listen and learn from Elders, survivors and the community to see “what the path forward looks like, not just for this community, but for this country, in partnership, in respect, in reconciliation”.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller and Trudeau met individually with Elders and survivors of residential schools for Indigenous children, holding their hands and offering them braids of holy grass (sweetgrass).
Justin Trudeau announced that Ottawa will provide an additional $2.9 million in funding to First Nations in British Columbia to support the healing of communities whose children were torn from their families and sent to residential school at the Mission of Saint -Joseph.
The funding “will help the community continue their research, including interviewing survivors, to uncover the truth about what happened at this school and allow the healing process to begin,” the firm said. of the Prime Minister in a press release.
Prior to Trudeau’s arrival, Williams Lake Chief Willie Sellars said the First Nation wanted long-term funding for all Indigenous communities across Canada that search for the remains of missing children around sites of former residential schools.
Chief Sellars spoke of their need for the Feds to provide complete records regarding St. Joseph’s Mission, as well as support to urge the Catholic Church to do the same, as they strive to identify children who never returned home.
The federal government’s role in reconciliation should also include support for economic development and important community needs, such as housing, said the Indigenous leader.
The investigation at St. Joseph’s Mission came after radar detected what are believed to be more than 200 graves at a former boarding school in Kamloops last year.
St. Joseph’s Mission Boarding School was started by the Catholic Church in 1891 as an industrial school where native children were expected to do jobs like splitting wood and farming. It only closed 90 years later, in 1981.
The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission indicates that at least 4100 indigenous children lost their lives due to various neglects in such residential schools in Canada.
The “Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program” has a hotline to help survivors of residential schools and their loved ones suffering from trauma evoked by the memory of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.