ActOUT! issues statement on Kamloops Indian Residential School burial site - Tues June 1
That the bodies of 215 children have been discovered on the grounds of Kamloops Indian Residential School is deeply disturbing. The affect is felt around our community, as it is more broadly across Canada and around the world.
It leaves few unaffected, even if it is difficult to imagine the full pain and anguish of families with loved ones lost, as well as of residential school survivors everywhere.
We also recognize that this news is troubling for many Indigenous members of our community, especially those with close personal or family ties to experiences in the residential schools. We send our condolences to the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nations for the tragic loss of their children. There are no words to ease the grief and pain of generations of children taken, futures, gifts and dreams unrealized but our hope is for closure and healing for the families of these children.
For an organization dedicated to children and learning, as ours is, the knowledge that so much harm was done to innocent children in the name of education is simply abhorrent.
Those seeking support may wish to contact the National Indian Residential School Crisis Hotline at 1-866-925-4419.
Breanna MacLeod, Board Chair
Todd Vercoe, Artistic Director