So far, Pierre Poilievre has supported embattled Conservative candidate, Aaron Gunn, who denies the Kamloops secret burial claim, and accordingly the notion that residential schools constituted genocide.
Gunn has further angered the chiefs by claiming that in some cases it was the indigenous leaders who requested that residential schools be built for the children in their communities.
UBCIC Grand Chief Stewart Phillip called Gunn's posts "absolutely reprehensible and repugnant and completely devoid of any sense of compassion for Indigenous Peoples who suffered enormously through the residential school experience. I don't think this man is fit for public office, whether it be federal or provincial or any office that allows him to continue to make these horrible statements," he told CBC News.
One of Gunn’s X posts that got them hopping mad is when Gunn wrote that "residential schools were asked for by Indigenous bands."
They have no intention of dropping their campaign to force Gunn to withdraw from the race. And petitions are now circulating to force Gunn out of the race.
It is unclear why the chiefs are so upset by this post, because it is absolutely true that indigenous leaders were asked for by indigenous bands. There are dozens of historical examples of indigenous chiefs and indigenous communities asking for — or even begging for — residential schools to be built in order to educate their children.
And when the federal government began closing down residential schools there are many examples of chiefs and their communities asking the government not to close the schools. In fact, in several cases indigenous communities sued the federal government in an attempt to force the government to keep the residential schools open.
I will list examples, with links, but to keep this article readable I will include a few only of the dozens easily available by a Google search and a perusal of the Truth and Reconciliation Report (TRC.)
’ll start with Canada’s first Indian residential school. It was not initiated by a white man, but by an Indian, Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant.
The school first opened in 1786 but had to close for lack of proper financing. Brant was so determined to have the school reopened that he travelled to England and lobbied the government there to make sure that the school reopened with sufficient resources. It was.
Robert Carney, father of Prime Minister Mark Carney, describes Canada’s pre-Confederation Indian residential schools in positive terms in this fine paper.
The indigenous leaders advocating for those schools very clearly wanted these schools to be built and remain open for the education of their children. Many of those chiefs sent their own children to the schools. The chiefs would obviously not willingly send their children to the schools if genocide awaited the children there.
Next, because it is so much in the news these days, is the Kamloops Indian residential school. The inspiration for that school was another Indian chief. Indian Affairs established the Kamloops Residential School in 1890 after the band Chief strongly advocated its founding:
“The Chief of the Kamloops band, Louis Clexlixqen,consistently supported education: He had encouraged Shuswap children to attend the residential school at the Okanagan mission in the late 1860s, assisted the Oblates in establishing a day-school on the Kamloops Reserve in 1880, and initiated the residential school built there in 1890. It was likely his influence that allowed the Oblates to assume control of it in 1893.”
The Kamloops school enjoyed broad community support during its long run. Many distinguished indigenous leaders received their education at the school. Len Marchand, the first Indian federal cabinet minister, writes favourably about his education at the school in his book, Breaking Trail. Obviously, if there were any secret burials, atrocities or genocide at the school Marchand would have noted it. Instead he writes about good times at the school. His only complaint is that the potatoes they served for dinner were watery. Needless to say, watery potatoes are not genocide.
Next let’s jump over to Phil Fontaine’s old alma mater, Fort Alexander Indian Residential School. In 1900, Indians at Fort Alexander in Manitoba petitioned Indian Affairs for a boarding school.
They were satisfied with sending their older children to the Industrial School at St. Boniface, but wanted a boarding school at Fort Alexander for the younger children. The parents were obviously not wanting to send their children to places of genocide.
They, like any other parents, wanted their children to have an education. At the time there were absolutely no laws requiring indigenous parents to send their children to any school. Those school attendance laws didn’t come into force until 1920, and even then parents could choose day school, instead of residential schools, as long as a day school was available. They were in most areas.
There are many other examples of indigenous leaders and parents demanding that residential schools be built and operated for the benefit of their children. Blue Quills, Sechelt, and in many other cases it was the Indians themselves who requested the schools.
In some cases, residential schools burned down, and it was the Indian parents who demanded that the schools be rebuilt. One such example is Cross Lake, Manitoba. The existing school was burned down by arsonists in 1930. The government initially did not want to rebuild the school, and it was only after a long and persistent campaign led by indigenous parents to rebuild that the government gave in and rebuilt it. The parents signed a petition arguing that the existing day school in the community was not providing the same quality of education provided by the residential schools. They demanded that it be rebuilt, and it was.
Similarly, when the federal government began to close down residential schools there are many examples of Indian communities who wanted them kept open. In one case they even sued the federal government in an attempt to keep the schools open.
So, the chiefs are factually incorrect when they imply that Aaron Gunn was telling a malicious falsehood when he wrote that “residential schools were asked for by Indian bands.” Gunn was telling the truth. Perhaps his advice to detractors to “read a book” would be good advice for the chiefs.
The claim that residential schools were genocide is a falsification of the past. Progressive indigenous leaders realized from an early stage that their children needed to be educated ‘in the white man’s ways’ in order to have a chance to succeed in the rapidly modernizing world.
Legendary Chief Dan George was a strong proponent of modern education for indigenous children. This included residential school education if the parents were willing to make the sacrifice of parting with their children for the school year. Many indigenous parents made that choice. Here is how Chief George put it:
“We need specialized help in education, specialized help in the formative years, special courses in English and guidance counselling. We need equal job opportunities for our graduates, otherwise our students will lose courage and ask what is the use of it all.”
The chiefs today should not be so quick to condemn Aaron Gunn for speaking the truth. Instead, they should remember the words of the chiefs of yesterday who requested residential schools for the education they knew that their children needed in order to succeed.
