Statement from the Real Estate Foundation of BC

Content warning: residential schools

Our thoughts and hearts are with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, and with Indigenous peoples everywhere, who are grappling with the painful discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children found on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

These grave sites are undeniable evidence of the horrors of the residential school system, and of the harm colonial systems have inflicted on Indigenous peoples in these places called Canada and British Columbia – and continue to inflict through intergenerational trauma.

We don’t know these children’s names. We don’t know their home communities, the languages they spoke, or who claimed them as family. We don’t know their birthdays, their favourite foods and games, or how far they were forced to travel from home.

Sadly, these children’s deaths were not an isolated incident. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has identified more than 4,100 children who were sent to residential schools and never returned.

The residential school system is a devastating example of the ways in which colonizers have tried to strip Indigenous peoples’ connection to their lands, waters, languages, cultures, spirituality, and human rights.

We recognize this is living history – executed, experienced, hidden, and revealed again in current lifetimes.

We recognize parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles among us who were forced to attend these schools, and generations of children, families, and communities who have had to witness and carry this trauma.

We recognize that many of the people and partners in our work are struggling with unimaginable depths of grief, anger, love, and rage. 

Justice for these children and their families starts with knowing. For those of us who, as settlers, have benefitted from colonial systems, we have a responsibility to listen to survivors and treat their stories with care, to denounce these acts of genocide, and to demand justice and restitution from our governments.

As inadequate as it may seem, please join us in standing for a moment of silence and reflection for these children, and for Indigenous communities who carry their loss, at 2:15 p.m. today.

Resources for Indigenous people:

• National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866 925-4419.
• KUU-US Crisis Line Society: 1-800-588-8717.

Resources for settlers to learn, offer support, and take action:

• Refresh your understanding of the Truth and Reconciliation Report and Calls to Action.
• Learn about the locations of residential schools (CBC).
• Make a contribution to the Indian Residential Schools Survivors Society, or a local Indigenous organization offering support services.
• Learn and take action through the On Canada Project.
• Provide the time and space that is needed for Indigenous staff and volunteers, or friends and families to process this painful discovery.
• Commit to learning and action on decolonizing policies and practices.