Image depicts the St. Joseph's Residential School in Williams Lake, B.C.
According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Archives (https://archives.nctr.ca/Cariboo-Residential-School) :
"Cariboo (Williams Lake) Indian Residential School (IRS) was located southwest of Williams Lake on highway #97 approximately halfway between Quesnel and Kamloops in the BC interior. The IRS operated from 1891 - 1981 (90 years) and closed on June 30, 1981.
Other names identifying the residential school include Williams Lake Industrial School and St. Joseph’s Industrial School from 1891 - 1920; Cariboo Industrial School and Cariboo Indian Industrial School from 1920 - 1927; Cariboo Residential School and Cariboo Indian Residential School from 1923 - 1981; St. Joseph’s Mission School (1929 - 1981), St. Joseph’s Indian Residential School (1932 and 1935), and St. Joseph’s Residential School (1963 and 1969); Cariboo Student Residence and Cariboo Indian Student Residence from 1967 - 1981. The school was also frequently referred to as the Indian School at 150 Mile House because of its location.
The Government of Canada was responsible for funding the school, which was managed and operated by the Roman Catholic Church from July 1891 - March 31, 1969. From April 1, 1969 - June 1981, the federal government managed and operated the IRS. In 1962, an agreement was signed between Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada represented by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and Indianescom (Oblate Indian and Eskimo Commission) for the management and operation of the Cariboo IRS.
No information regarding which grades were taught at the IRS exists.
Students were from the following bands: Alexandria, Alexis Creek, Alkali Lake, Anaham, Anderson Lake, Ashcroft, Bonaparte, Bridge River, Canim Lake, Canoe Creek, Clinton, Coldwater, Cowichan, Dog Creek, Euchinico, Fountain, High Bar, Kamloops, Kluskus Lake (Kluxkux Lake), Kuklinko, Lake Babine, Lillooet, Little Shuswap, Moricetown, Mount Currie, Natzoo, Nazko, Nemiah Valley, North Thompson, Pavillion, Pemberton, Quesnel, Redstone, Riske Creek, Seton Lake, Skwah, Soda Creek, Squamish, Stone (Stoney), Taodistan, Toosey, Ulkatcho (Ulgatcho), and Williams Lake. "was opened was opened by Roman Catholic missionaries in 1891. In 1902 nine boys ran away from the school, one of them dying of exposure. In 1920, nine boys ate poisonous water hemlock in what parents believed to be a response to discipline at the school. One of these boys died. The school closed in 1981. In the 1980s and 1990s two former staff members pled guilty to charges of sexually abusing students in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1998, a former principal apologized to a former student and school employee who had charged him with a series of sex offences. "
