Category Archives: Interior

Remembering the 215 children who died at the Kamloops IRS

Kamloops Indian Residential School – photo credit APTN

Canadians from coast-to-coast have been shocked at the news coming from Kamloops this past week. The unmarked graves of 215 children have been discovered at the site of the Kamloops IRS, validating the memories of survivors and confirming the oral history they have passed down to their children and grandchildren and demonstrating once again that far from being “isolated cases”, the cruel mistreatment of child captives was too often the norm in Canada’s IRS era, rather than the exception.

In recent years, the Kamloops IRS and has been the focus of meaningful historical teaching both in BC and across Canada, and resources have been created that give educators the tools to address this incredibly disturbing chapter of Canada’s colonial history.

  • The BCTF and BC’s Project of Heart – ebook – this amazing resource tells the hidden stories behind BC’s residential schools, and gives learners practical ways to include their new knowledge in meaningful gestures or reconcilation.
  • Hidden history – links and resources prepared by the BCTF, including videos, presentations, online resourcesm and teacher’s kits.

To find out how your classroom or learning group can honour the memory of the children who died at the Kamloops IRS and at residential schools across Canada, Project of Heart has prepared a 6-step learning module that has been used by educators in thousands of classrooms from coast to coast. And to see how educators in your province or school board have worked with Project of Heart, there are links to provincial Project of Heart sites at the top of this page.

Salmon Arm Secondary remembers the lost children of Anahim and St. George’s


 

Under the leadership of teacher Chelsea Prince, Salmon Arm Secondary completed Project of Heart by commemorating the students who attended Anahim IRS and St. George’s IRS, both in British Columbia.

Teaching this painful part of Canadian history was taken to heart by Salmon Arm students, as their heart-felt reflections (below the bump) so aptly demonstrate.

Project of Heart is grateful to the students and Ms. Prince for the effort that was taken to learn about this under-taught part of our shared history.  Meegwetch. Continue reading Salmon Arm Secondary remembers the lost children of Anahim and St. George’s