Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) chief and council have postponed releasing the findings from its investigation at the former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School site until the new year.
Originally a press conference to discuss the findings of the preliminary investigation was scheduled for Friday, Dec. 10, but now the date has been postponed tentatively to Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022.
““After engagement with St. Joseph’s Mission survivors, our members, and other communities we had initially concluded that it would be best to make full disclosure of our results immediately after we received them,” said WLFN Chief, Willie Sellars.
“However, since we made our announcement that there would be a public session to reveal the results on December 10, a number of communities have come forward and made it clear that they do not have the necessary health and wellness supports in place to address any issues that might arise from the release of these results. It has also become clear that people around the province are still struggling in response to recent natural disasters and we wish to avoid causing people affected by these disasters any additional stress or suffering. For these reasons we are persuaded to delay the public release of the results until the New Year.”
The first phase of the investigation began at the end of August 2021 and has involved the use of ground penetrating radar and other technologies covering about three percent of the total St. Joseph’s Mission land base.
READ MORE: Preliminary results from St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School investigation to be released
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