Abbotsford School District (ASD) teacher Jim McMurtry has been terminated for speaking to students about a major cause of death at residential schools. .“The authors of my firing are a small group of Woke Puritans, unthinking bureaucrats and power-hungry lagos,” said McMurtry in a Wednesday statement. .“I stand for freedom, children’s interests over employer’s interests, encouraging students to think for themselves, free conscience, plurality of opinion, and the open pursuit of knowledge.” .McMurtry said in December the ASD was recommending he be terminated because he told students facts about historic events. .READ MORE: BC teacher facing termination for telling students the truth .One student in a class he was substituting for said the priests murdered the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School by torturing them and leaving them out in the snow to die. He corrected her by saying “the children who died tragically while enrolled in residential schools did so from disease, particularly tuberculosis.” .Two vice-principals came up to his class and demanded he leave the school. He was put on an eight month suspension without being told why. .Former University of Calgary political science professor Tom Flanagan said in 2022 allegations of hundreds of graves at residential schools deserve more scrutiny and a physical dig. .READ MORE: Prof. Flanagan wants independent excavations at residential schools.Initial findings by ground-penetrating radar suggested 215 bodies were at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Flanagan said 51 deaths of students had been verified, with a common cause being tuberculosis. .“But up until the late 40s, early 50s, TB was rampant among Indian people, both children and adults,” he said..McMurtry called his case “a Canadian Scopes Monkey Trial.” He added he's incurred the wrath of ignorant, bigoted people for teaching students the truth. .McMurtry followed up by saying he likes his chances in court. .He said law and equity are on his side, “and equity allows no wrong without a remedy.” .“Funny how the son of one of the drafters of the Charter (my father, Roy McMurtry) could be saved by it!” he said. .The ASD could not be reached for comment in time for publication.
