WILLIAMS LAKE, British Columbia, Oct. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Williams Lake First Nation (WLFN) is calling on the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia to partner with WLFN to remediate the former St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School site following the completion of a comprehensive environmental investigation. A new Phase 2 environmental assessment, spanning more than 680 pages, has identified widespread contamination at the site. The Phase 2 report builds on the Phase 1 findings released in May and confirms that contamination at the site is more extensive than first understood. Contaminants at the former residential school site include lead, arsenic, cadmium and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The findings raise concern about the potential environmental impacts on surrounding lands and highlight the urgent need for further assessment and site remediation.For WLFN, this is a wound the community has carried for generations. St. Joseph’s Mission operated from 1891 to 1981, where children were taken from more than 48 Indigenous communities and sent there. Today, Survivors and families are still unable to safely return to the place where so much was taken from them.“Our people are tired. We have carried this for generations, and we want to close this chapter, not by forgetting, but by making this place safe and turning it into somewhere our families can heal,” said WLFN Chief, Willie Sellars. “Survivors and families are still unable to safely return to the place where so much was taken from them, and our community lives beside it every day. WLFN has led and funded this work because our people deserve answers and a path forward. This is not a weight we can or should carry alone. We are offering Canada and BC a clear, practical way to do the right thing, and we are asking them to take it.”
Nothing else at St. Joseph’s Mission can move forward until the buildings are safely removed and the site is remediated. Remediation will open the door to what Survivors, families and community members have long called for: a safe place to gather, grieve, reflect and honour the children. WLFN has done the assessment work. It is now asking Canada and British Columbia to join the Nation in taking the next step forward.
WLFN acknowledges that information relating to Indian Residential Schools may be distressing or triggering for Survivors, families, and community members. The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 1-866-925-4419.
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