According to Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was set up in 2008 to find out what happened in residential schools was told 50 deaths occurred at the Kamloops institution.
She said "massive ongoing problems" with historical records, including those "held by certain Catholic entities that they will not release" have made it very hard to understand accurately what happened.
Turpel-Lafond said the discovery confirms what community survivors have said for years — that many children went to the school and never returned. She also said federal agents often moved children around, so it is possible some of those found are from other First Nations communities.
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