The former Indian residential school at Tk’emlups is now a national historic site.

Still standing, the building that was part of a system the Truth and Reconciliation Commission deemed “cultural genocide” is now recognized as a part of Canada’s history.

“We collectively know all too well the often-impoverished view of reciprocal obligations and how it has dominated our people. Today, at Tk’emlups we take great pride in this path we walk together to commemorate that real collective history,” Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir said in a news release.

The designation makes it the fifth former residential school now recognized as a national historic site and the first in BC. Only recently has Canada started to recognize them as historic sites, with the first two in 2020.

Canada’s Environment and Climate Change minister Steven Guibeault announced the new commemoration on Feb. 12.

“The designation of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School as a site of national historic significance will serve as a testament and memorial to the children who were forced to live there and who died there,” he said.

The First Nation, in a referendum, chose to keep the school building and repurposed it for office space before it became the focal point of a national outcry over gravesites at residential schools across the country.

Built in the late-1800s, the Kamloops Indian Residential School was one of the largest in the system and peaked with 500 students from various First Nations communities in the 1950s before closing two decades later.

It has since been renamed the Chief Louis Centre after the former chief who advocated in the 19th century for schooling on behalf of Secwepemc people.

The designation provides further protection for the site, overseen by the federal government and Tk’emlups.

It’s not clear how the designation might affect Tk’emlups plans to renovate the property.