Former residential school building - Photo credit to CFJC

By Dylana Kneeshaw - CFJC Kamloops

“Unthinkable” – 215 child graves found at former Kamloops Indian Residential School

May 27, 2021 | 11:42 PM

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — The chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc calls the discovery “unthinkable”.

The band confirmed Thursday (May 27) it has found the remains of 215 children buried on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Chief Rosanne Casimir says the presence of the remains was “a knowing” in the Tk’emlups community but, was confirmed this past weekend with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist. The Tk’emlups Heritage Park is now closed to the public as work continues, with the potential crews may find more remains.

The children, some as young as three, were students at the school, which was once the largest in Canada’s residential school system.

Casimir says it’s believed the deaths are undocumented, though the Secwepemc Museum’s archivist is working with the Royal British Columbia Museum to see if any records of the deaths can be found.

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Preliminary work began in the early 2000s.

Casimir says band officials are informing community members and surrounding communities who had children who attended the school.

Kamloops Indian Residential School, operated from 1890 to 1969, with peak enrolment of 500 in the 1950s. The federal government took over administration of the school from 1969 to 1978, using the building as a residence for students attending other Kamloops schools.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission said large numbers of Indigenous children either ran away from residential schools or died at the schools, their whereabouts unknown.

More on the discovery has been revealed by LethbridgeNewsNOW sister station, CFJC Today, in Kamloops:

WATCH: Tk’emlups confirms bodies of 215 children buried at former Kamloops Indian Residential School site | CFJC Today Kamloops