Residential school buildings demolished on B.C. island, survivor says it’s a new chapter
Global News
Survivors of the Christie Indian Residential School were invited to Meares Island, off the coast of Tofino, to witness the destruction of the site's remaining buildings.
The remaining buildings of a former residential school on an island off the west coast of Vancouver Island have been demolished.
Survivors of the Christie Indian Residential School were invited to witness the demolition on Meares Island, off the coast of Tofino.
“The planning has been going on for quite some time now,” Greg Louie, former elected chief councillor of the Ahousaht Nation told Global News.
“I can say that it’s been in the in the universe for many years. That’s that’s how I feel about it. It’s been probably since we were all young people. That one day this was gonna come, one day this was gonna happen, and it’s it was just a matter of when and having the appropriate time.”
According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Christie Indian Residential School opened in 1900 and operated under the Order of St. Benedict and the Mission Oblates of Mary Immaculate until 1969. The federal government then took over operation of the school, and in June 1971, the Meares Island location closed. In October 1971, the Christie Student Residence opened in Tofino.
In September 1974, the West Coast District Council of Indian Chiefs led and operated the school as a student residence exclusively until it closed in 1983.
“When I was walking up this morning from the dock there, thinking about when I was a young boy, when I came here when I was six years old and having memories of walking up that road and the hills and and just a lot of emotion also,” Louie said at the demolition on Thursday.
Felix Harry attended the school from 1965 to 1972.
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