After Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was criticized for giving a speech to Winnipeg think tank that has platformed writers who downplayed the negative effects of residential schools, the man at the centre of the controversy is criticizing politicians and the media for their "dogma."."To criticize Mr. Poilievre for expressing his views through a think tank, which has charitable status and publishes a variety of opinions on important matters, is both reckless and unfair," said Mark DeWolf, a Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) research associate and author of the controversial article.."I long for the day when a reasoned and respectful debate can take place on such issues as the actual impact of residential schooling on our indigenous population.".Last Friday, Poilievre (Carleton, ON) gave a speech to the think tank as part of a daylong visit to Winnipeg, MB. But he was criticized by several politicians, including Minister of Crown-Indigenous relations Marc Miller (Ville-Marie-Le Sud-Ouest-Île-des-Sœurs, QC), and Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal (St. Boniface, MB)..“We speak with groups all the time with which we disagree,” Poilievre responded to his critics. “I obviously support reconciliation and I believe that residential schools are an ugly and horrific blight on our history of the country.”.The FCPP first came under fire in August 2018, when it published a commentary that pointed out inaccuracies and distortions in the portrayal of residential schools, and claims the idea residential schools robbed indigenous children of their childhood was a myth. In the article, DeWolf accuses the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of "spreading erroneous information" about the legacy of residential schools..READ MORE: Poilievre defends decision to meet with think tank that questioned residential schools.In the article, DeWolf says while Canadians should recognize the negative aspects of the schools, they should not be "wildly exaggerating its failures, demonizing it, and allowing it to distract us from far more serious threats to First Nations individuals and communities..As an attendee of St. Paul's Indian Residential School on the Kainai reserve near Cardston, AB for six years, DeWolf got to witness the schooling system first-hand. While the former English teacher and musician is not indigenous, he attended the school because his father was its principal..DeWolf said he recalls his teachers being "not particularly strict or unkind" towards Blackfoot children that attended the school. DeWolf also claimed he never saw any of his classmates receive corporal punishment for misbehaving.."The fact that my classmates could speak Blackfoot at all times except when in the classroom — and sometimes even then — I was shut out of the various conversations that went on around me, and I only managed to learn a few Blackfoot words. Partly for that reason, I made very few friends among the Kainai students, and those I did have were usually children of indigenous staff members," he said.. Paul DeWolfeMark DeWolf with his classmates at St. Paul's Indian Residential School .DeWolf told the Western Standard that his main criticism of the TRC is how its Summary and Heritage volumes do not "adequately or fairly" sum up what the multi-volume Final Report shows. "That the history of the residential school system is a very complicated one, and that while misguided and flawed in many ways, it was not at all an attempt to commit genocide, cultural or actual," DeWolf said..DeWolf said that like many other well-intentioned government initiatives, the residential school system was not wisely thought out or adequately funded, and it failed to prevent the acts of cruelty and abuse that far too many students suffered..The TRC's six-year study of the residential school system found that physical, mental and sexual abuse was rampant at the schools. It also determined that around 3,200 children died while in their care because of malnourishment or disease..But according to DeWolf, the Final Report contains much that shows the schools in a positive light. Mainstream media and academics, however, have focused on a "simplified, almost cartoon version of the system’s 113-year history." He said one fact that is often left out of the narrative around residential schools is that indigenous children were not obliged by law to attend the schools for the first 37 years of their history..While DeWolf acknowledged that while there were many testimonies describing harsh treatment, cultural denigration, poor food, and physical and sexual abuse, he said those testimonies represented less than 10% of the former residential school students still alive at the time of the TRC’s work. .DeWolf also questioned the prevailing narrative around the unmarked graves of residential school children. To date, at least 1,800 confirmed or suspected unmarked graves have been identified across Canada using ground-penetrating radar. But not a single grave has been officially confirmed as the burial place of a child’s body..But DeWolf said in his experience, the idea that indigenous parents would have never been notified of their children's deaths was "more than far-fetched." ."Any students who died while in residence at St. Paul’s — and during my 10 years there, not a single student died — would have been returned to their parents for burial, almost certainly in the well-marked graveyard that sits on a hill overlooking the school," he said. ."If children died while in residence and their parents were not properly informed, and those children were secretly buried in the dead of night, I want to know about it. I would say harsh words about it. But I need to have trust in what I am being told.".In response to Leader Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, BC) calling the FCPP "one of the most vicious deniers in the country" and "dangerous and violent," DeWolf said Singh "doesn't understand the meaning of free speech or the importance of conducting reasoned debate about very serious issues."."He should understand that a refusal to even consider different views than your own says something about you that isn’t at all admirable," DeWolf said..When it comes to the narrative around residential schools, DeWolf said it could be compared to "dogma," meaning a system of beliefs that must not be challenged, "lest you be labelled a heretic and damned for all time."."Major religions no longer banish to hell those who disagree with their core beliefs, but a new dogma seems to have sprung up and, with the help of the media, gained a wide following."
