Prior to contact with European explorers and the later settlers the lands in which the current district of Mission sit upon traditional Sto;Lo people’s territory. For thousands of years the Sto;Lo have lived in the region. Its only in relatively recent history that there has been the presence of peoples other than Coast Salish indigenous people. Its important to note that when describing the history of the region.

The District of Mission itself is named after the first and original residential school on the park lands built roughly at the same time as the Grotto.  Mission is not named after the current seminary above Hatzic bench known as the Westminster Abby Seminary.  The area had several buildings. Some were for the Indigenous students there to reside in, others were made for the purposes of farming and the maintenance of tools and machinery. It was run by the Oblates of Saint Mary the Immaculate Catholic organization. Some of the buldings were used as classrooms.

None of the original buildings are standing today. They went into a state of disrepair and by 1965 were demolished.  Only a few of the concrete foundations exist today.

It has been a controversial place since then, as well as the Saint Mary’s government run residential school, just east of the old facilities, which still stand. The main building and gymnasium are still in use, though they have been repurposed. An Air Cadet Squadron uses the gymnasium as a parade square, and there are a few businesses/organizations/ service providers present there. One example being a day care centre.

The Mission Residential Schools are not remembered fondly for good reasons. The process of separating Indigenous children and youth from their parents in the original schools run by churches and also the more recent government schools was traumatic for those involved;their languages being banned and they were forced to speak English in some cases via threat of violence .There were instances of abuse and those incidents form much of the memory of those places.

The effects still linger in the hearts and minds of survivors to this day. Ideally as we look at the history of Mission we must acknowledge what occurred here and be cognizant of the fact that while the Heritage Park may be a pleasant park to go and walk through, but it has a deep and troubled history. History of the region is not all pleasant, nor is it all horrible. It is imperative to learn a deeper history of one’s community, reflect on it, and move forward in a thoughtful manner.