Kamloops residential school, Former residential school in Kamloops, Canada.
The Kamloops Indian Residential School operated dormitory rooms and classrooms for Indigenous children in the Thompson Valley area. The two-story brick building housed sleeping quarters, dining halls, and administrative sections on a larger campus on the edge of town.
The Catholic Church opened the school in 1890 as part of a nationwide system for forced assimilation of Indigenous children. The federal government took direct control in 1969 and closed the facility permanently in 1978.
Students came from different Indigenous communities across British Columbia and were forced to abandon their ancestral languages. The forced separation from families and cultural roots was part of the institution's stated purpose throughout its operation.
The former school site remains a sensitive memorial area without public access for visitors. The Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation manages the grounds and conducts ongoing investigations.
Ground-penetrating radar investigations in 2021 detected around 200 potential burial sites on the grounds. This discovery sparked nationwide attention to searches for missing children at similar institutions across Canada.
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