There has been much support and some questions about this campaign.

Kukwstsétsemc for your donation to Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation 215 on Go Fund Me.

100% of all funds raised (less Go Fund Me admin and credit card fees) are donated to Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc  First Nation in Kamloops, BC.

215 children were found buried at the site of a former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

The 215 deaths are now tacked onto the 4,100 children who have previously been identified as having died of disease or accident while attending residential school.

About 150,000 First Nations children went through Canada’s church-run residential school system, which ran from the 1870s until the 1990s.

In the 1920s, residential schools, like the Kamloops Indian Residential School, forced children to attend by law. If they didn’t, their parents faced prison time.

According to the Missing Children Project, many children were poorly nourished, physically or sexually abused and developed tuberculosis or other infections. They also died by suicide, or died in accidents.

It’s not known what happened to the 215 children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, but the Royal British Columbia Museum is collaborating to see if any records of the deaths can be found.

There will be costs to repatriate their remains and return them to their families and communities.

Helping to pay these costs is only a small step on the pathway to living and acting in solidarity with marginalized people. True allyship requires a consistent commitment to eliminating systemic injustice, not motivated by self-interest. Becoming an Ally also involves ongoing work to unlearn beliefs, misconceptions and ignorance, as well as work to revaluate privilege, wisdom, wealth, power and equity.

May the donation you make to this page be just the beginning of your journey to helping to eliminate systemic injustice and oppression of marginalized people, and the promotion of acknowledgement, recognition and respect by Settlers of Indigenous peoples.

I messaged Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir and confirmed with The Band's Executive Director of Finance that they will receive 100% of all funds raised (less Go Fund Me admin and credit card fees).

Together we have already raised almost $4,000 and The Band's Executive Director of Finance has received the transfers as they come in.

Some initial feedback from other Settlers and also interviews from residential school survivors that I've read in the news has been that, as non-Indigenous people, we should, instead, listen to the stories.

The funds are being accepted with gratitude and this campaign may encourage people to listen and hear stories from survivors of residential schools for the first time.

I strongly believe we can do both. There are numerous stories from survivors in the public domain. I encourage you to find them, read a new one every day/week, and discuss what you've read with your friends and family.

I will, however, keep listening to important feedback from other Settlers, and especially First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, in my journey to promote acknowledgement, recognition and respect by Settlers of Indigenous peoples.

The number for the National Indian Residential School Crisis Line:
1-866-925-4419

British Columbia has a First Nations and Indigenous Crisis Line offered through the KUU-US Crisis Line Society:
1-800-588-8717