BC NDP Attorney General says her government is in favour of criminalizing 'residential school denialism'

SURREY — During a media conference on the BC government designating a space for ash scattering, the province’s attorney general stated that she and the BC NDP government are actively calling on Ottawa to criminalize what they call “residential school denialism.”."Attorney General and Deputy Premier Niki Sharma made the comments Thursday at an outdoor event marking what officials described as the home of BC’s first ash-scattering site. Standing at a podium bearing that designation, Sharma was asked about a fresh Assembly of First Nations resolution urging the federal government to treat "residential school denialism" as hate speech.“We’ve also been calling on the federal government to take action through the criminal code,” Sharma said.She added: “We have seen an unprecedented and terrible rise in residential school denialism here in the legislature and in Victoria. We as a government have solidly condemned it.”The remarks come amid ongoing controversy over comments by independent and former Conservative MLAs, including Dallas Brodie, who has publicly stated that the number of confirmed child burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site is zero and questioned aspects of mainstream media coverage of the 2021 ground-penetrating radar findings and the broader reconciliation framework. Critics, including indigenous organizations and the provincial government, have labelled such statements "denialism.".The AFN chiefs, meeting in Ottawa, unanimously passed an emergency resolution this week stating that First Nations remain concerned "residential school denialism" is not adequately addressed in federal law..The resolution calls on Canada to introduce stand-alone legislation to criminalize it as hate speech. BC Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee said there has been an “exponential” rise in anti-indigenous hate in BC and across the country, describing denialism as hate speech that retraumatizes survivors and undermines truth and reconciliation.Similar private members’ bills have previously been introduced in the House of Commons, most recently by NDP MP Leah Gazan. Those measures sought to amend the Criminal Code so that publicly condoning, denying, downplaying or justifying the Indian residential school system, or misrepresenting facts relating to it, could be treated as wilful promotion of hatred against indigenous peoples, with penalties of up to two years in prison.An amendment to Bill C-9 (the Combatting Hate Act) that would have criminalized residential school denialism was defeated in the Senate in June. One senator who voted against the amendment, Patti LaBoucane-Benson, said it risked “watering our wine and not going for the full force of what should happen with residential school denialism,”.The BC government has not introduced provincial legislation on residential school denialism. Nonetheless, Sharma’s remarks confirm the NDP administration’s position in favour of federal Criminal Code changes. No further details were provided at the Surrey event on the specific wording the province is seeking or any timeline for federal action.

BC NDP Attorney General says her government is in favour of criminalizing 'residential school denialism'

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