A place that we can gather, a place that we can have ceremony
On the grounds where St. Joseph's Mission Residential School once stood — a place that claimed the lives or disappearances of over 150 children across nine decades — the Williams Lake First Nation is attempting an act of profound reclamation. Having purchased the site in 2023 and identified more than 150 anomalies near a former graveyard, the nation now finds itself stalled by a $166,000 federal funding gap that separates environmental assessment from the remediation work required to make the land safe for healing. It is a familiar tension in the longer story of reconciliation: the distance between commitment and action, between what is promised and what is delivered.
- Over 150 anomalies have been found near the former graveyard at St. Joseph's Mission, and the site still holds asbestos, crumbling structures, and sunken tunnels that make it unsafe for the gatherings Chief Sellars envisions.
- Despite $8.6 million in broader federal commitments to the Williams Lake First Nation for residential school work, the specific $166,000 needed to move from assessment into physical remediation has not arrived.
- Indigenous Services Canada has not responded to requests for comment, and its previous position — that site development funding would only follow completed assessments — creates a bureaucratic threshold the nation has now crossed but not cleared.
- Chief Sellars has gone public, speaking to CBC Radio West to name the stall directly and call on both federal and provincial governments to deepen their partnership before momentum is lost.
- The nation's goal is not a monument but a living space — a place for ceremony, gathering, and community closure — and every week of delay is a week that healing is deferred for survivors, families, and the broader community.
Chief Willie Sellars of the Williams Lake First Nation is asking a pointed question: when does a federal commitment become federal action? The nation purchased the former St. Joseph's Mission Residential School site in 2023 for $1.2 million, with provincial support, and has spent three years beginning the hard work of transformation. Preliminary environmental assessments have now revealed the full scope of what lies ahead — asbestos contamination, dilapidated buildings, sunken tunnels, and more than 150 anomalies identified near the former graveyard. The next phase of cleanup is ready to begin. The $166,000 needed to fund it has not arrived.
Speaking publicly on Wednesday, Sellars told CBC Radio West that the nation is stalled. The federal government has committed $8.6 million to Williams Lake First Nation for residential school-related work overall, and pledged $150,000 in January 2025 for site assessments specifically. But the funding for actual remediation — the work that turns findings into a safe and usable space — has not materialized. Indigenous Services Canada did not respond to requests for comment, though a prior statement suggested development funding would only be considered once assessments were complete, a threshold the nation has now met.
St. Joseph's Mission operated from 1891 to 1981 under the Catholic Church. Children from more than 40 communities were taken there. Over 150 children died or disappeared during its ninety years of operation. The site's investigation was spurred in part by the 2021 Kamloops findings, which prompted First Nations across the country to begin their own searches.
What Sellars wants to build is not a memorial in the traditional sense, but a living place — somewhere communities can gather, hold ceremony, and find closure. He has framed the revitalization as inseparable from breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma, and has called on both levels of government to remain active partners. The province has contributed $475,000 for investigation work and says it remains committed. But the immediate gap is federal, and without resolution, the land that was meant to become a place of healing remains, for now, a site of unfinished work.
Chief Willie Sellars of the Williams Lake First Nation stands at a crossroads. The nation purchased the former St. Joseph's Mission Residential School site in 2023 for $1.2 million, with provincial support, and has spent the past three years beginning the difficult work of transforming it into a place of healing and remembrance. But now, as preliminary environmental assessments reveal the scope of what needs to be done—asbestos contamination, crumbling buildings, sunken tunnels—the federal government has not delivered the $166,000 needed to move forward with the next phase of cleanup and rehabilitation.
Sellars spoke publicly about the funding gap on Wednesday, telling CBC Radio West that the nation is stalled. "We're now looking at phase two in the works that need to be done to clean up the site, and we don't have that federal government support," he said. The irony is sharp: Ottawa has committed $8.6 million to the Williams Lake First Nation overall for residential school work, and in January 2025 pledged $150,000 specifically for site assessments. But the money for actual construction and remediation—the work that transforms assessment into action—has not materialized.
The site itself carries the weight of more than a century of institutional harm. St. Joseph's Mission operated as a residential school from 1891 to 1981, run by the Catholic Church. Children from more than 40 communities were forcibly taken there. Over 150 anomalies have been identified near the former graveyard on the property, a grim echo of the discoveries that began in 2021 when the Tk'emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation released preliminary findings from ground-penetrating radar showing approximately 200 potential unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. That revelation prompted the Williams Lake First Nation to begin its own investigation.
What Sellars envisions for the site is not a museum or a monument, but a living space. "What we want to see at the end of the day, is a place that we can gather, a place that we can have ceremony, a place that we can give our communities an opportunity to have closure," he said. He has also called on the provincial government to deepen its partnership in addressing the school's legacy. The revitalization, he argues, is essential to breaking cycles of trauma that persist in Indigenous communities. "We want to break the cycle in our communities," Sellars said. "And if we stop talking about it, if we start burying or if we start pushing that truth away ... it isn't going to allow us to get to a place where we're healing as a community—and that's a community, Indigenous and non-Indigenous."
The province has already contributed $475,000 in 2021 for investigation and related activities, and a spokesperson for the B.C. Indigenous Relations Ministry stated that the government remains committed to working with First Nations on residential school site priorities. But the immediate obstacle is federal. Indigenous Services Canada did not respond to requests for comment on the current funding situation, though a previous statement indicated that site development funding would be considered only after assessment work was complete—a threshold the nation has now crossed.
The Williams Lake First Nation is not alone in seeking resources for this work. Across the country, First Nations are engaged in similar efforts to investigate, document, and reclaim former residential school sites. But the gap between assessment funding and remediation funding represents a critical bottleneck. Without the $166,000, the nation cannot address the environmental hazards that make the site unsafe for the gatherings and ceremonies Sellars envisions. The work of transformation stalls.
Notable Quotes
We're now looking at phase two in the works that need to be done to clean up the site, and we don't have that federal government support.— Chief Willie Sellars, Williams Lake First Nation
We want to break the cycle in our communities. And if we stop talking about it, if we start burying or if we start pushing that truth away, it isn't going to allow us to get to a place where we're healing as a community.— Chief Willie Sellars
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does this particular funding gap matter so much? The federal government has already given the nation millions.
Because money for assessment and money for action are different things. You can know what's wrong with a building and still not be able to fix it. The nation has done the hard investigative work. Now they're being told to wait.
What happens to the site while they wait?
It sits. The hazards remain. The community can't use it for what they need—ceremony, gathering, healing. The whole point of purchasing it was to reclaim it, not to leave it frozen.
Is this about the unmarked graves specifically, or the broader cleanup?
Both. The graves are part of why the site matters so deeply. But you can't have people gathering in a place with asbestos and unstable tunnels. The environmental work and the spiritual work are inseparable.
What does Sellars mean by breaking the cycle?
Residential schools were designed to suppress Indigenous identity and culture. The trauma echoes through generations. By creating a space where the community can gather, speak truth, and conduct ceremony, they're saying: this place will no longer be a site of erasure. It becomes a site of remembrance and continuity.
Is the province stepping up?
They've contributed, but Sellars is asking them to do more—to see this as a shared responsibility, not just a First Nation problem. The school affected the whole region for ninety years.
What's the federal government's position?
They haven't said. They committed to assessment funding but haven't explained why construction funding isn't following. That silence is part of the problem.