A convoy of at least 215 truckers from across the Southern Interior will be driving to the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on Saturday morning.

West Kelowna long-haul trucker Mike Otto organized the event on Monday, and says he reached out to Facebook groups of truckers on Monday as a contact on the Highway Thru Hell film crew who helped spread the word.

And he says he’s been organizing with Tk‘emlúps te Secwepemc.

“There’s going to be a drum circle there, there’s going to be a ceremony. We’re there to get the point across, get the voices heard. Make sure that people are going to do what they’re supposed to be doing by helping the families have some closure.”

Otto says truckers will be going at their own expense. “I’ve had some people ask to donate, and I’ve said ‘absolutely not,'” he says.

“This isn’t about that, this is about getting our point across, and getting their point across. That they finally be heard.”

As a parent himself, Otto says he couldn’t imagine how scared the parents and kids would’ve been of Indigenous families when children were forcibly brought to residential schools.

“It really hurt me. It’s sad to see that all of these families lost their little kids with no reason to find out where they were, how they died and how they were treated. And I’m hoping we can give them some peace of mind, and some closure for the families.”

On Saturday morning, convoys will be meeting in Kelowna at 8 a.m. at the Chevron cardlock, in Merritt at 9:30 a.m. at the Denny’s, and in 150 Mile House at 7:30 a.m. at the Esso Cardlock.