Once again Williams Lake has an Indian Residential School Survivors Society office.
During its grand re-opening Tuesday at its new space at 19A Second Avenue North, executive director Cindy Tom-Lindley said the previous one has been closed for more than a year due to funding and other situations.
“We have two staff members and an elder that will be working out of this office doing workshops and healing circles,” Tom-Lindley said. “We will also offer therapy and counselling and have a counsellor that has been working out of this office already.”
The Williams Lake area has been impacted heavily by the residential schools legacy, she added.
“There are lots of First Nations in close proximity to Williams Lake and there was St. Joseph Mission School just outside the city.”
A lot of the communities have experienced direct or intergenerational impacts, she said.
“We have been finding from the work that we do that the intergenerational impacts are very deep as well and we have been getting a lot more requests from intergenerational survivors needing help.”
They need support, services, counselling and education, she added.
While she gave closing remarks at the open house, Elder Cecilia De Rose fought back the tears.
As she spoke in the Shuswap language, elder Jean William translated afterwards for the Tribune.
“She said we can all get along and walk side by side with one another and accept one another,” William said. “Even though we’ve had setbacks in our lives, we can continue to work together and be on the land.”
De Rose said in the past First Nations were not allowed to even leave the reserves for a while.
“We used to sneak out to Horsefly area just to pick huckleberries and blueberries and hope to God nobody saw us,” De Rose said.
William said they could not even go into the cafés in Williams Lake at one time.
The grocery stores allowed them in, but that was about it, De Rose said.
“This is everyone’s land and we can all coexist,” William said.
The society can be contacted at 1-800-721-0066 or by e-mail reception@irsss.ca or its website IRSSS.CA.
A crisis line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-9245-4419, counselling at 1-877-477-0775 or access to a day scholar at 1-800-429-5665.
Williams Lake is one of eight places where the society has an office in B.C.