First Nations leaders want to prevent public officials from denying residential school experience

The First Nations Leadership Council in British Columbia is pushing Canada to enact a law that would ban people from publicly denying the experience of residential school survivors. The FNLC said it is “deeply concerned by the rise of Residential School denialism in the province, particularly the egregious misuse of public office by elected officials using their platforms to sow public doubt and promote misinformation and anti-Indigenous racism.” It is calling on the federal government to “prioritize implementation of federal legislation to protect against Residential School denialism, as has been done with Bill C-19 which criminalized Holocaust denialism in Canada.” The March 20 statement from the FNLC comes shortly after a Conservative politician in B.C. was turfed by her party after posting on social media that “zero” burials have been confirmed at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. The Tk’emlups Secwepemc nation announced in 2020 that it had discovered 215 potential unmarked graves of students there. Residential school denialism started shortly after. Commenters on social media – even public servants including mayors – questioned whether there were really any graves. Angela White, a member of the Residential Schools Survival Society, said these groups need to be educated and held accountable. “Once you allow voices to start spewing and changing the narratives of what our history truly is you open the door to so many other negative voices that can instill themselves and start changing the narratives,” White said. Canada implemented the residential schools system in the 1800s to assimilate an estimated 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children into Canadian society. According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 4,117 of the children died. It’s not clear how many weren’t identified. Read More:  Canadians must ‘challenge’ deniers of residential schools: NCTR tells ceremony  The FNLC said First Nations leaders across B.C. have passed resolutions “calling for the rights and testimony of survivors to be upheld.” “To me, it’s sort of like an added insult to the people who suffered in residential school,” said Hugh Braker of the FNLC, “it’s like you’re hitting them over the head again. “These people put up with so much in their life and now they having to be called a liar.” In response, NDP MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) introduced Bill C-413 in September 2024. The proposed law will make it a criminal offence to willfully promote “hatred against Indigenous peoples by condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system in Canada through statements communicated other than in private conversation.” The law made it through first reading before Parliament was prorogued by former prime minister Justin Trudeau. “We feel strongly that legislation is needed to combat misinformation, denialism, and racism promoted by politicians elected officials and hate groups,” said FNLC in the statement. “We urge the government of Canada to uphold its obligations under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the principles of reconciliation, and urge all members of Parliament to work across party lines to make it an offence to promote hatred against Indigenous peoples by condoning, denying, downplaying, or justifying Residential Schools in Canada or misrepresenting related facts.” Continue Reading