People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier used the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to post a message on X challenging widely accepted accounts of Canada’s residential school system.In his post, Bernier wrote: “On this ‘National Day for Truth and Reconciliation,’ let’s remember that no bodies were found, that the residential schools ‘genocide’ is a hoax, and that reconciliation requires an end to the bs, the victim mentality, the fake white guilt, and the grifting based on it.”.The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation became a federal statutory holiday in 2021. Observed on September 30, the day is intended to honor Indigenous children who were sent to residential schools, acknowledge survivors, and reflect on the intergenerational impacts of Canada’s colonial policies.The date coincides with the grassroots commemoration known as Orange Shirt Day, which began in 2013 to recognize children who never returned home from residential schools.Between the 1880s and 1990s, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children attended residential schools across Canada. The schools were funded by the federal government and operated largely by churches..Many children were separated from their families, forbidden to speak their languages, and pressured to abandon cultural traditions.The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which concluded in 2015 after hearing testimony from thousands of survivors, documented widespread accounts of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse as well as neglect.The TRC estimated that thousands of children died while attending the schools. In 2021, announcements by Indigenous communities about unmarked graves at former residential school sites brought renewed attention to the system’s legacy.While full forensic investigations are ongoing and results vary by site, these announcements prompted vigils, commemorations, and policy responses, including the creation of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
