TAKING CARE: We recognize our efforts to show solidarity with Indigenous peoples and honour Survivors and families may become a painful reminder to those who have suffered hardships through generations of government policies that have been harmful to Indigenous peoples. A National Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support to former residential school students where you can access emotional crisis referral services.
Please call the Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 if you or someone you know
is triggered while reading this. We encourage all those who need some support to reach out and know that support is always there for you through the Hope for Wellness Help Line at 1-855-242-3310 (toll-free) or the online chat at hopeforwellness.ca, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.You can also find information on how to obtain other health supports from the Government of Canada website.
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Located on the north bank of the South Thompson River at the foot of Sqeq7é7em (Mounts Peter and Paul), the former Kamloops Indian Residential School opened in 1890 as the Kamloops Industrial School and closed in 1978.
February 12, 2025 Secwepemcúl̓ecw (Kamloops, BC) Parks Canada
Today, Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc and the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada, announced the designation of the Former Kamloops Indian Residential School as a national historic site under Parks Canada’s National Program of Historical Commemoration.
The Former Kamloops Indian Residential School is located on Kamloops Indian Reserve #1 of Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc. This building was nominated for designation by Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc, and a collaborative process was undertaken between Parks Canada and the First Nation to identify the historical importance of this former school. Run by the Roman Catholic congregations of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and the Sisters of St. Ann, the Kamloops Indian Residential School was the largest institution in a system designed to carry out what the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada described as cultural genocide. Many, including Pope Francis and the Canadian House of Commons, have referred to it as genocide. The traumas experienced by Survivors have had profound, lifelong, and intergenerational consequences that continue today.
Among the students who attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School were children between the ages of four and 18 from over 108 communities and at least 38 Indigenous nations from across British Columbia and beyond, including the Secwépemc, Stó:lō, St’át’imc, Nłeʔkepmxc, and Syilx. Forcibly removed from their homes, these children experienced physical, emotional, spiritual and sexual abuse, forced labour, malnutrition, inadequate and overcrowded living conditions, poor healthcare, and high rates of infectious diseases and death.
Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc members chose to preserve several of its buildings to commemorate and teach about the impacts of residential schools on children and families and to serve as a place for teaching Secwépemc language and culture as an act of reclamation.
The school was part of a system of residential schools instituted by governments for Indigenous Peoples, working with Christian churches in the 19th and 20th centuries. As part of the government policy of forced assimilation, these institutions separated Indigenous children from their families and communities in order to eradicate their cultures, spiritualities, languages, and traditions. Born of colonial policies in Canadian history, the residential school system is a tragedy that has adversely affected generations of Indigenous peoples, with lasting repercussions on First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, cultures, economies, traditional knowledge and ways of life, languages, family structures and ties to the land. The Government of Canada is committed to raising the voices of Indigenous peoples to ensure this history is never forgotten.
The Government of Canada, through the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada and Parks Canada, recognizes significant persons, places, and events that have shaped our country as one way of helping Canadians connect with their past. By sharing these stories, we hope to foster understanding and reflection on the diverse histories, cultures, legacies, and realities of Canada’s past and present.
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