Image: Mel Rothenburger

By Mel Rothenburger

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: In search of a definition for residential-school denialism

Jun 24, 2023 | 7:50 AM

THE STORY of a skeptic who showed up at the Kamloops residential school with a shovel in hand, ready to start digging for unmarked graves, came to light in an unusual way.

It was revealed in the interim report of Kimberley Murray, the federally appointed special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites associated with residential schools.

“Denialists entered the site without permission,” she stated in her report. “Some came in the middle of the night, carrying shovels; they said they wanted to ’see for themselves’ if children are buried there.”

Wire services picked up on it and put it at the top of their stories about Murray’s report, which covered a lot of other ground in its 175 pages. Local media plucked it out of the wire-service articles for their own stories.

Within a few days, Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir confirmed that at least one person had come with a shovel, though when it happened is unclear. Turns out she had first related the incident at the National Gathering on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials in Vancouver back in January, but it had gone unnoticed by the media.

Two and Out

PETERS: 'Go be homeless somewhere else' is no solution

May 23, 2025

The Tattle of Hastings

THE TATTLE OF HASTINGS: Olynyk talks TRU WolfPack legacy, fight against cancer, life as sports dad

May 23, 2025

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: May 22, 2025

May 22, 2025

No charges were laid in connection with the shovel incident. At the least, a trespassing charge would have been in order for such an egregious act but, regardless, it represents the invasive and disrespectful nature of some of the reaction to the unmarked graves issue.

Some will say it shows how far we’ve yet to go in the quest for reconciliation. I prefer to think the vast majority of Canadians are better than that.

Murray and Casimir, though, talk about poisonous social media posts as well. “Kúkpi7 Casimir explained that the hate and racism was so intense that she no longer uses social media without heavy filters. She said that the toxicity of denialism on social media needs more attention.”

This is disturbing stuff, especially during a week in which National Indigenous Peoples Day was celebrated. The issue of denialism is prominent in Murray’s report, but what, exactly, is denialism when it comes to residential schools?

The traditional definition of denialism is that it is the practice of denying reality. A more complete definition is that it’s a way of avoiding a psychologically uncomfortable truth and an irrational action that ignores empirically verifiable events.

Murray’s report offers what might serve as one definition of denialism as it applies to residential schools: “A core group of Canadians continue to defend the Indian Residential Schools System. Some still deny that children suffered physical, sexual, psychological, cultural, and spiritual abuses, despite the TRC’s indisputable evidence to the contrary. Others try to deny and minimize the destructive impacts of the Indian Residential Schools. They believe Canada’s historical myth that the nation has treated Indigenous Peoples with benevolence and generosity is true.”

In an article written for Conversation.com, scholars Daniel Heath Justice and Sean Carleton defined residential school denialism as “the rejection or misrepresentation of basic facts about residential schooling to undermine truth and reconciliation efforts…. Residential school denialists employ an array of rhetorical arguments. The end game of denialism is to obscure truth about Canada’s IRS system in ways that ultimately protect the status quo as well as guilty parties.”

There’s a growing movement to criminalize these contrary views. NDP MP Leah Gazan, for example, wants to make it a crime to deny that genocide occurred in residential schools.

Murray’s report echoes that approach: “Urgent consideration should be given to legal mechanisms to address denialism…”

Indigenous lawyer Elanore Sunchild said after the report that “If you deny the whole residential school system and its impact on indigenous people and the trauma that was created from those schools and the deaths, then, of course, it should be seen as hate speech.”

Hate speech is against the law in Canada, and subject to prison time. It’s defined as the use of extreme language to express hatred towards a person or group of people based on race, religion or sexual orientation.

Both Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller and Justice Minister David Lametti have expressed interest in the concept of criminalizing residential school denialism, though they haven’t elaborated on what would constitute an offence.

I only hope there will be room left in the national dialogue — minus the shovels and social-media hate — for those who ask for forensic evidence, whose quest for the truth (not the obscuring of it) may sometimes challenge what others believe it to be, who are motivated by a search for facts (not a denial of them), without being dismissed or criminalized along with the racists, haters and shovel wielders.

There are acceptable limits on free speech, but we need to approach such limits with extreme caution.

Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

—

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.