Three First Nations from British Columbia are launching an initiative to investigate St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver. The purpose of the investigation is to find answers about the children that once attended the school. This comes after more than 5000 bodies have been discovered in unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools across the country. 

The Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam nations of British Columbia announced on Tuesday an Indigenous-led plan to confirm what they have been told by survivors of St. Paul’s as to what happened to the children that disappeared from the school. Over the course of its operations from 1899 to 1959, over 2000 Indigenous children from six nations attended the school. Many of the children from St. Paul’s were eventually relocated to the Kamloops Indian Residential School, where the remains of more than 200 children were found back in May. 

A National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available to provide support for former residential school students. To speak to someone, call 1-866-925-4419.

Image Credit: Maple Ridge News