Response to Kamploops

North York Community House grieves with the families and communities of the 215 children whose remains were discovered at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation in Kamloops, B.C.

We have heard and believed the stories of Residential School Survivors and thank the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation for carrying out this very difficult work so the children who suffered under Canada’s Residential School system are not forgotten.

As an organization of newcomers, refugees, and modern-day settlers, we are aware that we add layers of oppression and barriers on Indigenous Peoples by residing on these lands. We are committed to working towards reducing these barriers, educating ourselves, and building awareness of Indigenous history, rights, and treaties, among newcomer communities. As displaced communities with lived experiences of colonization, war, famine, and genocide, we commit to finding common ground and working together to bring healing.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimates that more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were placed in residential schools between the 1870s and 1990s and at least 4,100 children died while attending school.  

We call on the Canadian government to provide the resources and support needed to identify and commemorate all the children who went missing while at residential schools across Canada in keeping with its commitment to act on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 71 to 76: Missing children and unmarked burials.  

Together, as settlers on these lands both old and new, we must face the horrors of our shared history, learn the truth, call for justice, and work towards meaningful reconciliation.

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