group of students were sent to receive a so-called "formal" education. The program continued for the next six decades until a point when Indigenous children were allowed into the public school system. Ninety years after the start of the residential school program, the mission school closed circa 1981. Throughout that period, Indian agents were empowered to remove children from homes to attend St. Joseph's Mission School in Williams Lake, British Columbia. This led some to attempt to hide their children by sneaking out to hunting grounds or fields. Children fled the schools, and within the first 30 years, three investigations on the physical abuse and malnutrition were conducted. Disenfranchisement Voting rights in Canadian federal elections were denied until 1960, and in provincial elections until 1949. First Nations communities Today, some 5,000 Tsilhqotʼin people live in Alexandria, north of Williams Lake, and in a string of five communities accessible from Williams Lake on Highway 20 (from east to west), and south from Highway 20 is the Nemiah Valley, and the Xeni-Gwetʼin. Toosey First Nation (Tlʼesqox of the Tsilhqotʼin) (offices are located at Riske Creek; Tsilhqotʼin community: Tlʼesqox (Toosey); Tsilhqotʼin band name: Tlʼesqoxtʼin (Tlʼesqox Gwetʼin) = "People at/on Tlʼesqox"; registered population April, 2020: 377) Yunesitʼin First Nation (Stone First Nation) (offices at the town of Hanceville, B.C.; Tsilhqotʼin community: Yunesitʼin - "Stone/Stoney", original place-name: Gex Natsʼinilhtʼih; Tsilhqotʼin band name: Yunesitʼin (Yuneŝitʼin Gwetʼin); registered population April, 2020: 491) Tlʼetinqox-tʼin Government Office (Anaham Reserve First Nations) (offices east of the town of Alexis Creek; Tsilhqotʼin community: Tlʼetinqox - "the river flats"; Tsilhqotʼin band name: Tlʼetinqox-tʼin (Tlʼetinqox Gwetʼin) - "People of Tlʼetinqox"; registered population April, 2020: 1,631) Tŝideldel First Nation (Alexis Creek First Nation) (offices are at Redstone on the main Redstone Reserve; Tsilhqotʼin community: Tsi Del Del - "Red Stone"; Tsilhqotʼin band name: Tŝideldel (Tŝi Deldel Gwetʼin); registered population April, 2020: 703) Ulkatcho First Nation (offices at Anahim Lake; mixed Dakelh-Tŝilhqotʼin community, mostly of the Ulkatchotʼen Dakelh subgroup with intermarried Nagwentlʼun-Tsilhqotʼin-subgroup and some Nuxalkmc; registered population April, 2020: 1,065) ʔEsdilagh First Nation (Alexandria First Nation) (historic Tsilhqotʼin band name: ʔElhdaqox-tʼin - "People of the Sturgeon River; i.e. Fraser River"; Tsilhqotʼin community: ʔEsdilagh - "where the land meets the water." or "Peninsula"; Tsilhqotʼin band name: ʔEsdilagh-tʼin (ʔEsdinlagh Gwetʼin) - "People of the Peninsula"; registered population April, 2020: 256) Xeni Gwetʼin First Nation (offices at the wilderness community and reserve in Nemaia Valley; Tsilhqotʼin community: Xeni