Getting us closer to finding out that truth, righting historical wrongs
In the interior of British Columbia, the Williams Lake First Nation has taken a formal step toward answering questions that have gone unanswered for generations — signing the province's first protocol of its kind to guide the potential excavation and return of remains believed to lie at the site of St. Joseph's Mission Residential School. Ground-penetrating radar has identified 159 possible burial sites at a school that drew children from more than 40 communities and operated until 1981, leaving behind deaths and disappearances that were for decades unrecorded and unmourned. The agreement does not mandate excavation, but it establishes who leads, how the work is done, and what values must govern it — placing the community most harmed at the center of any reckoning to come.
- One hundred and fifty-nine potential burial sites have been identified at a former residential school, each one a question that a community has been waiting decades to answer.
- The signing of the memorandum was described as emotional by Chief Willie Sellars — the weight of years of conversations with elders and survivors compressed into a single moment.
- Not everyone agrees on what should happen next; survivors, neighboring communities, and council members hold differing views, and no excavation has yet been decided upon.
- The protocol commits six government and First Nation bodies to a First Nation-led process, ensuring that any recovered remains are handled with cultural respect and that the community drives the decisions.
- The Williams Lake First Nation purchased the site itself in 2023, transforming legal ownership into a foundation for both investigative integrity and eventual healing.
In early June, the Williams Lake First Nation signed a memorandum of understanding with British Columbia and the RCMP — the province's first agreement of its kind — establishing a formal framework for the potential excavation, identification, and repatriation of remains at the former St. Joseph's Mission Residential School. The school operated until 1981 in B.C.'s interior, drawing children from more than 40 communities. Some of those children died. Some disappeared. For decades, neither the deaths nor the locations of the dead were formally recorded.
Ground-penetrating radar surveys, beginning in January 2022, have since identified 159 potential burial sites on and near the former school grounds. The memorandum does not commit the First Nation to excavation — it is a framework, a set of protocols prepared in advance of a decision that has not yet been made. Chief Willie Sellars described the signing as the culmination of years of conversations with elders and survivors, and said he felt a sense of accomplishment that progress was finally taking shape.
Six parties are bound by the agreement, including the B.C. Coroners Service, the RCMP, and several provincial ministries. The protocol ensures that the Williams Lake First Nation leads any process that moves forward, and that cultural sensitivity governs the handling of any remains recovered. Researchers have already reviewed archival records and conducted survivor interviews alongside the radar work, and three criminal convictions for abuse at the school were secured in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 2023, the First Nation purchased the site for $1.2 million with provincial support — a deliberate act to protect the integrity of any future investigation and to honor those who were lost. Sellars envisions the land eventually becoming a place of healing. He also acknowledged that the path forward is not without disagreement; reactions among survivors, neighboring communities, and the First Nation's own membership are mixed. What the memorandum offers is not resolution, but a shared structure for navigating uncertainty — with those most affected at the center of every decision still to come.
On a Monday in early June, the Williams Lake First Nation signed a memorandum of understanding with the province of British Columbia and the RCMP—the first agreement of its kind in the province—that establishes a formal process for what may come next: the excavation, identification, and return of human remains believed to be buried at the site of St. Joseph's Mission Residential School.
The school operated until 1981 in the interior of British Columbia, roughly 500 kilometres northwest of Vancouver. Children from more than 40 communities were taken there. Some died. Some disappeared. For decades, those deaths and disappearances were largely undocumented, their locations unknown. Then, in January 2022, the Williams Lake First Nation announced that ground-penetrating radar had detected 93 potential burial sites around the former school. A year later, another 66 were found. The total now stands at 159 possible graves.
Chief Willie Sellars of the Williams Lake First Nation described signing the memorandum as an emotional and exciting moment, the culmination of years of conversations with elders and survivors. He was careful to note that no excavation has been decided upon—the agreement is a framework, a set of protocols put in place in case the work moves forward. But the signing itself represented something: progress on a question that has haunted the community for generations. "I feel accomplished that progress is being made," Sellars said.
The memorandum commits six parties—the First Nation, the B.C. Coroners Service, the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, the RCMP, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and the archeology branch of the Ministry of Forests—to working together on what Sellars called "getting us closer to finding out that truth, righting historical wrongs, getting to a place of proper healing." The agreement ensures that the Williams Lake First Nation leads the process and that any remains recovered are treated with cultural sensitivity and respect. A senior leadership team from each signatory will serve in an advisory capacity.
The investigation itself has already been underway for some time. Researchers have used ground-penetrating radar, reviewed archival records, and conducted interviews with survivors. The work has established that Indigenous children did die at the school and are believed to be buried on or near its grounds. In the 1980s and 1990s, three high-profile criminal convictions were secured for physical and sexual assault that occurred at St. Joseph's. The broader context is stark: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented that at least 4,100 children died while attending residential schools across Canada.
Last year, the Williams Lake First Nation purchased the site itself for $1.2 million with help from the B.C. government—a deliberate move to ensure the integrity of any future investigation and to honor both the children who disappeared and those who survived. Sellars said at the time that the purchase was about securing the site and acknowledging the loss. Looking forward, he envisions the location becoming something else: a place of healing, a space to honor ancestors and survivors, a way to break what he called the generational cycles of harm.
But Sellars also acknowledged the complexity. The potential excavation has generated mixed reactions from neighboring communities and from survivors and council members within the First Nation itself. There is no simple consensus about what the next steps should be. What the memorandum does is create a structure for moving through that uncertainty together—a shared understanding of roles and responsibilities, a commitment to doing this work carefully and with the people most affected at the center of the decision-making. "Our team has continued to have conversations about how we're going to continue to investigate that site, what are the steps moving forward," Sellars said. The agreement is not an endpoint. It is a beginning.
Notable Quotes
I feel accomplished that progress is being made— Chief Willie Sellars, Williams Lake First Nation
This MOU reflects a collaborative approach, so that together with Williams Lake First Nation, we can seek truth and justice for the generations of families affected by St. Joseph's Mission Residential School— Murray Rankin, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does this memorandum matter if no excavation has actually been decided yet?
Because without it, if the First Nation did decide to move forward, there would be no agreed-upon process. No clarity on who does what, how remains are handled, how they're identified, how they're returned. This agreement says: if we do this, here's how we do it together, and the First Nation leads.
What changed between January 2022 and now that made this agreement possible?
The radar work gave them concrete evidence—159 potential sites. That shifted the conversation from "we think something happened here" to "we know children are likely buried here." The province and RCMP couldn't ignore that anymore. And the First Nation buying the land last year meant they had control of the site itself.
Chief Sellars mentioned mixed reactions from survivors and council members. What's the hesitation about?
Some people may not want the site disturbed. Some may fear what excavation will unearth—not just physically, but emotionally. Others may want answers so badly they're ready to proceed. There's no single survivor experience. The memorandum acknowledges that by keeping the conversation ongoing, not forcing a decision.
The school operated until 1981. Why is this investigation happening now, more than 40 years later?
The Kamloops discovery in 2021 changed everything. When ground-penetrating radar found over 200 graves at another residential school, it gave communities a tool and a template. It made the invisible visible. Before that, the deaths at St. Joseph's were largely accepted as historical fact, not as a solvable mystery.
What does Sellars mean by transforming the site into a place of healing?
He's talking about reclaiming the land. Instead of it being a monument to harm, it becomes a space where the community can grieve, remember, and move forward together. It's about agency—taking back control of a place that was used to harm their people.