Some say it’s time for Canada to criminalize residential school denialism

OTTAWA — As a young child, Dennis Saddleman’s mother always ensured he knew how much she loved him, gave him kisses on his forehead and told him how beautiful he was.

That all changed when he was six years old, and those warm words turned ice cold when he was sent to the Kamloops Indian Residential School. The priests and nuns who were tasked with looking after him constantly berated him, beat him, barred him from speaking his language and practising his culture, and sexually assaulted him.

“I didn’t know what I was getting into when I got there,” he said in an interview on Parliament Hill in front of the Survivors’ Flag, which is meant to honour and remember survivors of residential schools.

“I couldn’t understand why they were treating us like we were dogs. They punished us even though we were innocent.”

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996.

An estimated 6,000 children died in the schools, though experts say the actual number could be much higher.

Many survivors who testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission shared stories of abuse in those institutions that were similar to Saddleman’s, and their words are included in its reports.

Increasingly, however, those stories are subject to what historian Sean Carleton calls “residential school denialism.”

He said denialism is a strategy used to twist, misrepresent and distort basic facts about residential schools to shake public confidence in the stories of survivors, and in the process of truth and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada.

“Overall, the goal of denialism is to protect the colonial status quo,” said Carleton, who is an assistant professor of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.

He also said some media outlets have been used to spread this disinformation.

That includes misrepresenting the number of children who died from tuberculosis in the schools by saying a lot of people at the time died from the disease, and leaving out the fact the federal government’s policies exacerbated the impact of the illness in residential schools through overcrowding, poor nutrition and a lack of proper sanitation and ventilation.

Another common theme Carleton sees is that residential schools were “well-intentioned.” Denialists ignore that the stated goal of the institutions was to disrupt the connections of Indigenous families and accelerate their assimilation into settler Canadian society.

“It’s a constant sowing of seeds of doubt in things that we don’t need to be doubtful about, because we’ve already established the truth about them,” he said.

Some people even deny that students died at the institutions at all, even though that has been documented through Canadian and church records.

With U.S. President Joe Biden’s historic apology Friday for that country’s equivalent of residential schools, Carleton worries the increased attention will lead to even more denialism.

Survivors have been calling for protections from the harms caused by those who try to discredit their stories, or those who try to take matters into their own hands and engage in hateful behaviour.

NDP MP Leah Gazan introduced a private member’s bill in the House of Commons ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation that seeks to criminalize residential school denialism.

“Residential school denialism is hate speech, full stop,” Gazan said in an interview.

“Why, after all the time residential school survivors spent in the schools, are we allowing hate speech and violence to be perpetrated against them any longer? Why are elected officials not doing their due diligence to protect survivors from hate speech? That’s exactly what my bill intends to do.”

The bill proposes that anyone who, other than in private, promotes hatred against Indigenous Peoples by “condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system in Canada or by misrepresenting facts related to it” could be subject to a maximum of two years in jail.

The bill does set out some exceptions, including if the statements were true, if they were relevant to public interest, if they were intended to point out hatred toward Indigenous Peoples or if it is a religious opinion. It has little chance of becoming law unless it is adopted by the governing Liberals.

Canada enacted a similar law in 2022 to combat Holocaust denialism, though so far no case has been successfully prosecuted under that provision.

Canada’s special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves, Kimberly Murray, has long called for government intervention to stem the tide of residential school denialism.

In a report last year, she documented increasing attacks from denialists on communities exploring possible discoveries of unmarked graves.

In May 2021, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced ground-penetrating radar had uncovered what are believed to be 215 unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, where Saddleman attended. That made international headlines, and drew the ire of people who attacked the community online.

“Some came in the middle of the night, carrying shovels; they said they wanted to ‘see for themselves’ if children are buried there,” Murray wrote.

Her final report is expected to be released this week at a gathering in Gatineau, Que.

Saddleman said the abuse he suffered at Kamloops haunted him for years after he left the school. He faced substance use issues and homelessness, and at the height of his pain, an attempt to take his own life.

He said he stopped when he saw his abusers in a vision, saying they continued to taunt him and encouraged him to follow through.

Instead, he took the hate, pain and shame given to him in residential school, and “gave it back — I gave it back because it’s not mine.”

“I was walking from darkness, and I walked into the light,” he said. “The spirit and all this inside me made me stand tall and know who I am.”

Carleton said that while federal legislation may not be able to stop all denialism and the discrediting of survivors’ stories, it would be a step in the right direction, along with more education about residential schools and their ongoing impact on people and communities.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September his government has to “look very carefully” at Gazan’s bill, saying whenever there are limits put on free speech, careful steps must be taken.

“Canadians are understanding that recognizing truth and reconciliation isn’t about feeling bad or guilty about Canada — it’s about committing every day to be a better Canada, and understanding that for us to be the country we all want to be, we need to work hard at reconciliation,” he said.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said earlier this month that he supports the bill and that he’d work with his colleagues on next steps. There has been no commitment the Liberals would adopt the legislation and pass it.

“It is an issue that’s deeply hurtful, and it impacts particularly survivors and their descendants,” he said.

In a statement, Conservative Crown-Indigenous relations critic Jamie Schmale didn’t say whether his party supports the legislation, but that it will “closely examine” it and participate in debates.

Gazan said survivors are waiting for action.

“Knowing that this was an institutionalized genocide by the government of Canada, this is the least they can do.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 27, 2024.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press