The origins and troubled early years, if not necessarily the fate, of St. Joseph's Mission at William's Lake epitomized the early history of residential schooling for Native students in British Columbia. The Christian missions, including residential schools, of the three major de-nominations in British Columbia were always dominated by rivalry among creeds, financial adversity, and, in some instances, Indian resistance. Sectarianism played an important role in shaping the extent and distribution of schools along the pacific coast, as rival missionary bodies struggled to outflank and leapfrog their brothers and sisters in Christ.

    The Roman Catholic banner was carried on the Pacific by the body that was to dominate the residential school effort from the late nineteenth century onwards, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. They took to missionary work among the Native peoples with particular zeal, both on the prairies after 1845 and on the Pacific. After a difficult campaign in the Oregon country from 1847 onwards, they established themselves north of the international boundary, first at Esquimalt on Vancouver Island and later at New Westminster on the lower Fraser River.

    The Roman Catholic banner was carried on the Pacific by the body that was to dominate the residential school effort from the late nineteenth century onwards, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. They took to missionary work among the Native peoples with particular zeal, both on the prairies after 1845 and on the Pacific. After a difficult campaign in the Oregon country from 1847 onwards, they established themselves north of the international boundary, first at Esquimalt on Vancouver Island and later at New Westminster on the lower Fraser River.