Governor General Mary Simon on Monday shifted her tone on residential schools, praising Canadians for learning more about the indigenous experience while dropping previous references to so-called “denialism.”At Rideau Hall, Simon told guests, “To the survivors who are with us today, your stories are an immense gift to all of us. They are an extended hand, an invitation to repair bridges between all communities in Canada.” Blacklock's Reporter says she highlighted the growing recognition of indigenous traditions and symbols, like the Orange Shirt, and said history courses are now embracing perspectives long overlooked.Simon’s remarks contrast with a 2023 speech where she accused skeptics of “residential school denialism,” claiming some Canadians attacked burial sites and media accounts online. “Denialism takes the form of attacks online, through the media and through the desecration of burial sites,” she said at the time..The Governor General emphasized that Canadians can no longer claim ignorance about the country’s past. “We now acknowledge all aspects of our history, both the good and the bad,” she said. Her earlier comments followed the 2021 announcement by the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation that 215 children’s remains were discovered at a former Kamloops Residential School. No remains were ever recovered, though the First Nation received $12.1 million for exhumation and forensic testing.Federal agencies have since removed references to “genocide” in statements on the now-disbanded Residential School system, a label originally applied by the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission that claimed 4,100 schoolchildren died, a figure that remains uncorroborated.
