Residential schools: Communities grapple with what to do with leftover buildings
The national spotlight on residential schools is also highlighting a difficult question facing some communities over what to do with the buildings that have been left behind.
British Columbia's Okanagan Indian Band penned a letter last week to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking the federal government to remove three former day schools for Indigenous children that the chief called “symbols of trauma.”
The structures, which now serve as a preschool, band office and elders' congregation centre, are too painful for some community members to enter, said Chief Byron Louis.
“A number of our community members won't even set foot in there unless they absolutely have to,” he said in an interview from Vernon, B.C.
“You can imagine the memories of some looking around and remembering what it was like being there as children.”
The First Nation would like to see the structures replaced with “places of healing,” Louis said.
He wrote the letter less than two weeks after the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in Kamloops, about 120 kilometres west of Vernon, used ground-penetrating radar to detect what are believed to be the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves.
The federal government did not respond to a request for comment on the letter.
The Okanagan Indian Band is not the first community to grapple with the question of what to do with former residential and day school buildings. Some have opted for demolition, while others have chosen to preserve the schools as standing records of what happened.
Former Kamloops chief Manny Jules said there have been many debates over the years about the future of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, but band members have decided to keep it as a reminder to future generations that their children will never go through such an experience.
Band members have also decided to keep the building as a legacy to past chiefs, who always supported the education of their people but whose efforts were thwarted by the policies of Canadian governments and the Catholic Church, he said.
Jules said the federal government offered Tk'emlups te Secwepemc $70,000 in the 1970s to tear down the school, but the nation declined the offer.
“What we said at the time is we want to turn these buildings into a legacy for language, history and culture, for education and all those other aspects,” said Jules. “Why tear it down?”
As far back as 1910, then-Kamloops chief Louis called on the federal government to make Indigenous-run education a treaty right, he said.
“When I look at this complex, because I feel it's the legacy of Chief Louis, it's how do we turn this into a memorial for every student that ever attended this complex?” said Jules, who was the elected chief from 1984 to 2000.
“How do we turn it into a memorial so that when people look at it, and of course there's going to be ghosts here for all times, but we want to make sure that that legacy is never forgotten and never repeated.”
In 2015, survivors flocked to Alert Bay, B.C., to take part in an emotional ceremony and witness the demolition of St. Michael's Indian Residential School.
Robert Joseph, a hereditary chief of the Gwawaenuk First Nation and co-founder of Reconciliation Canada, said he spent 11 years at the school beginning around age six in the mid-1940s.
The towering building was a regular and painful reminder of what happened, said Joseph, who also has a home next to the school grounds.
On the last evening of the ceremonies before the demolition, survivors gathered in the Big House for a celebration, challenging themselves to move forward beyond a dark period of their lives, he said.
“It was absolutely transformative for me. I felt renewed after everything was done, and all that there was left to do was remove all the remnants of that building,” he said.
“We won't really ever be free until we've resolved internally, individually, all of those things that impacted our lives and called us to live in addiction and rage and anger.”
The decision to tear down the school wasn't unanimous, he said, but its poor condition added to the consensus to demolish it.
Joseph said his advice for other communities is to have a thorough discussion that considers the pros and cons of keeping the structures.
The field where the school stood is bordered by the U'mista Cultural Centre, a museum dedicated to the survival of Kwakwakaʼwakw cultural heritage. While the cultural centre was built 25 years before the demolition, Joseph said he thinks it's appropriate that community members can go there to learn about their history, ceremony and Indigeneity.
“It was sort of a perfect transition. Now the U'mista centre is a beacon of hope and light.”
With files from Dirk Meissner in Kamloops.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.