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Flags at federal buildings lowered to honour B.C. residential school victims

The bodies of 215 Indigenous children were found at a former residential school
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The flag at the BC Legislature will be flown at half-mast starting on Sunday, May 30, 2021, to honour the 215 Indigenous children whose bodies were found at a former residential school near Kamloops, B.C. (BC Legislature)

Flags at federal buildings across the country, and at the BC Legislature, are being lowered Sunday (May 30) to honour the 215 children found buried on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops.

The discovery of the bodies was confirmed Thursday (May 27) by the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. The Kamloops Indian Residential School operated from the late 1800s until 1977 and the Tk’emlups te Secwépemc said there were as many as 500 children enrolled at the school at one time. The children’s remains were found by using ground penetrating radar.

“To honour the 215 children whose lives were taken at the former Kamloops residential school and all Indigenous children who never made it home, the survivors, and their families, I have asked that the Peace Tower flag and flags on all federal buildings be flown at half-mast,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement Sunday.

National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day at 1-866-925-4419.

READ MORE: Work underway for forensics experts to identify B.C. school remains

READ MORE: B.C. teachers to wear orange shirts to honour children found dead at residential school


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