(L-R) Sister Judi Morin, Canonical Co-leader, Sisters of St. Ann; Sister Marie Zarowny, President of the Sisters of St. Ann; Dr. Dan Muzyka, Board Chair and Acting CEO of the Royal BC Museum; Sister Joyce Harris, Canonical Co-leader, Sisters of St. Ann (Image Credit: Flickr / Royal BC Museum)
Residential Schools

Sisters of St. Ann, Royal B.C. Museum sign agreement on enhanced residential school record-sharing.

Jun 23, 2021 | 1:19 PM

VICTORIA — The Catholic order that staffed the Kamloops Indian Residential School has reached an agreement with the Royal B.C. Museum (RBCM) on enhanced record-sharing.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), dated June 21, was signed by representatives of the RBCM and the Sisters of St. Ann (SSA).

The MOU sets out seven goals, including facilitating “access to the SSA archives by an RBCM archivist and a neutral third party to audit Indian Residential School and associated records”.

It also prioritizes making records accessible to Indigenous communities and better connecting SSA with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and the UBC Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.

The MOU takes effect on July 1, 2021.

There has been increased pressure for transparency on Catholic orders that ran and staffed residential schools since last month’s discovery of 215 unmarked gravesites near the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

A representative of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who administered the Kamloops school, told CFJC Today all of that order’s records had been turned over to the museum along with its formal apology issued in 1991.

READ THE AGREEMENT: (Courtesy Royal B.C. Museum)

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