Archives of former Kamloops residential school lack documentation of deaths: B.C. archivist

KAMLOOPS (NEWS 1130) — After 215 bodies of children were discovered at a former residential school in Kamloops, the head of archives at the Royal B.C. Museum’s records so far do not explicitly mention deaths at the schools.

Genevieve Webber has been working to uncover more details about what happened at residential schools. She says the museum has hundreds of boxes filled with photographs, handwritten notes, and diary entries but no mention of any deaths or burials at the school.

“I don’t think there is anything that explicitly talks about these deaths. But it’s really hard to say, there’s such a huge amount of material and we haven’t gone through everything, at the moment we’re working through it,” she says.

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Webber doesn’t expect to find any mention of deaths but says the records provide a better understanding of the conditions that students lived in and what they experienced. The museum is currently in the process of digitizing the documents.

“We found other records that may implicitly imply what happened there. So records relating to infectious diseases, outbreaks of infectious diseases, or the conditions of the buildings themselves and the living conditions of the students.

Webber explains, since residential schools were operated jointly between the federal government and the religious organizations, records are scattered across the country and with different organizations. So, the challenge and greatest concern now is compiling the information related to the Kamloops site.

“So when researchers do access them, and specifically Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community accesses the records, because that community is our first priority, they will be in the best place to interpret the records in a way that they feel is most appropriate,” she says.

When gathering all the information, Webber adds the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc community will have access to the records and will be able to interpret and use as they see best fit.

A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available for anyone affected by residential schools. You can call 1-866-925-4419 24 hours a day to access emotional support and services.