Charlene Belleau attended St. Joseph's Mission for four years in the 1960s (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen (CFJC Today)

WILLIAMS LAKE FIRST NATION

St. Joseph’s Mission survivor recounts trauma, feels more potential burial sites will be found

Jan 26, 2022 | 3:03 PM

Editor’s Note: The following story contains descriptions of trauma and abuse suffered by Indigenous peoples at residential schools and hospitals. Discretion is advised. The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide 24/7 support to residential school survivors and others who are affected. Call 1 (866) 925-4419.

KAMLOOPS — The news of 93 potential burial sites at the former St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake is hitting survivors and their families hard.

While many knew about the atrocities that were happening at the school, they are only now talking about them.

“Students were subject to other forms of torture like forceable confinement, intentional starvation, and exposure to extreme environmental conditions,” said Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars at Tuesday’s media conference.

The school operated for 90 years until 1981, welcoming thousands of children — both Indigenous and non-Indigenous — from Williams Lake and the surrounding communities.

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The Aboriginal children were taken away from their family and left on their own.

“I missed family because I grew up as a child being around elders and listening and learning about language and culture and had a strong support system,” said survivor of the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School Charlene Belleau.

Once the children arrived the school, many say the abuse was rampant from the beginning.

In 1902, three children ran away from St. Joseph’s. One of the children died. Years later, nine children poisoned themselves in an attempt to commit suicide.

A boy named Augustine Allen died.

Allen’s granddaughter is Belleau, who later attended St. Joseph’s for four years in the 1960s. She and her four siblings were sent to residential school after her father died when she was six.

“They didn’t think my mom could look after five children, so we had to go to residential school,” she said. “The loss of language, culture, the close connections with elders has always been the biggest loss for me.”

Belleau, who a liason between B.C. and First Nations in investigating remains found at residential schools, says the 93 reflections found will only grow.

“I look at 93 reflections or anomalies within a 14-hectare area a large number,” she said. “Fourteen hectares isn’t very big.”

The geophysical work to scan the area around the St. Joseph’s Mission started in August (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

Many of the children, including Belleau, knew about some of the abuse that was going on, including the rape at the school.

“Stories of gang rape and molestation have been part of the fabric of the institution’s history,” said Sellars. “So common that one survivor states that if the school intercom requested a child to attend the office, you knew someone was about to be raped.”

Belleau says she also knew about the children that went missing. “But people didn’t believe us. Now we’re here. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m glad we were at this stage. I’m just hoping that in my lifetime that they will know what happened to my grandpa because he committed suicide there.”

As survivors and their families process the 93 potential burial sites uncovered, Williams Lake First Nation is providing all the supports necessary. There is also a sacred fire on the Pow Wow grounds that will burn until Friday.

The second phase, which is set to begin this spring, will cover another 450 hectares.