The provincial government will deliver one of two scheduled apologies this afternoon to surviving Sons of Freedom Doukhobor children sent to a residential school in the 1950s.
BC Attorney General Nikki Sharma is in Castlegar today to issue the apology and will issue another in Grand Forks tomorrow, according to the official invitation sent out to survivors.
The apology was originally expected to happen in November; however, shortly before the legislature was to convene, the province postponed the event to allow more time for affected community members to be present and witness it.
The apology is in response to the BC Ombudsperson’s office, which issued a follow-up report in 2023 to a 1999 call for an apology and compensation.
About 200 children were sent to New Denver between 1953 and 1959.