Since the story about the Kamloops Indian Residential School (IRS) broke in May 2021, independent researchers presented an abundance of documents evidencing truth about Indian Residential Schools to journalists, academics, activists, clergy, and politicians..The evidence does not support the overall gruesome narrative put forward around the world for several years, a narrative for which verifiable evidence has been scarce, or non-existent..Routinely, the response is silence. But frequently, the comeback has been bitter name-calling and virtue-signalling. “Residential school denialist” is now a favourite epithet, but “genocide denialist” is gaining ground, especially since Parliament’s genocide declaration on October 27 of this year. The declaration was made without the presentation of a scintilla of evidence or any debate, either by the parliamentarian who presented it, or any member of any party. So, anyone who asks any questions or presents real evidence that might bring some relief and peace to indigenous families across Canada is silenced and/or shamed..Is the real truth not ugly enough? Everyone knows of the existence of the schools. Everyone knows there was abuse at some of the schools. Everyone knows there were criminal acts perpetrated against some unfortunate students. Everyone knows the schools played a regrettable part in the history of our country. It is not credible to deny those parts of our history..Why then, is it necessary to exaggerate and tell tales that make the history uglier than it already is? Why was it necessary for Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Grand Chief RoseAnne Archibald, in August 2021, to tell the BBC’s Hard Talk program “Oh, it (residential school policy) was designed to kill, and we’re seeing proof of that … sixteen-hundred little children — little ones — innocent children have been recovered so far?".Further, “We’re going to be into the thousands upon ten thousands of children found.”.There has not been evidence of even one..Why did Truth and Reconciliation (TRC) Commissioner Murray Sinclair — speaking for Canada — tell the United Nations “for roughly seven generations nearly every indigenous child in Canada was sent to a residential school”? The statement was false; fewer than a third of First Nations children attended IRSs..Why, in June 2021, did Sinclair tell the CBC’s The Current program the number of children who died as a result of their school experience “could be in the 15-25,000 range, and maybe even more”? .There is absolutely no evidence for statements like this. Did Sinclair seriously think such sensational talk might assist with reconciliation?.Why did Amnesty International send emails prior to the 2021 federal election which included, “The remains of over 6,000 Indigenous (sic) children — who never should have been taken from their families — have been found buried on the grounds of former residential schools across Canada since May?”.No children have been found buried in those places, and certainly none — anywhere — under sinister circumstances..Only a few — and no mainstream journalists, despite urgings — have demanded corrections to such outrageous and hurtful statements, to no avail. The fact they come from people like Archibald, Sinclair and Amnesty International seems to be intended to accord the narrative some credibility, such that anyone who questions it is labeled a denialist. But the real problem is such exaggeration, coming from highly-placed people, hurts ordinary indigenous people badly and heightens their grief. This insensitivity to ordinary indigenous folks is a serious disservice to them. They are angry and deeply hurt by it. And so they should be..There has been zero evidence for these allegations (and plenty of documented evidence to the contrary), but coming from where they do, they are believed, and they cause enormous pain for many indigenous Canadians..Why is the real truth not good enough? Is the real truth not ugly enough? The residential schools harmed indigenous families in many ways. But how can exaggeration and misinformation promote the healing of those indigenous Canadians who simply want the truth so they can move on with their lives?.But wait! If those independent researchers — truth seekers — are denialists, they are in very good company. Using the definition adopted by those who wish to hide or cancel the truth, the following are only a few fellow “denialists.”.DENIALIST: Former Prime Minister and Minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chretien told a Radio-Canada talk show in October 2021 he never heard about abuse at residential schools while he was minister of Indian affairs from 1968 to 1974.."This problem was never mentioned when I was minister. Never.” (Chretien apparently forgot a complaint he received about St. Anne’s residential school in northern Ontario, to which he replied in a letter on Feb. 6, 1969, ”You may rest assured, however, that we are aware of the problems which exist at that location and are doing what we can to correct them.”). Wilson LittlechildWilson Littlechild .DENIALIST: Chief Dan George (Geswanouth Slahoot). Wilton Littlechild, a former long-time residential school student, the first treaty Indian elected to the House of Commons, and later a TRC commissioner, gave his maiden House of Commons speech on Dec. 23, 1988. In it, he quoted Chief Dan George’s 1967 Lament for Confederation: “Let me humbly accept this new culture and through it rise up and go on… I shall grab the instruments of the white man’s success — his education, his skills. With these new tools I shall build my race into the proudest segment of your society.”.Littlechild’s speech was given in 1988. That would have been an excellent opportunity to speak of the “horrors” of the IRSs, but he did not do so. Silence is also denial..DENIALIST: Wilton Littlechild’s grandfather, Chief Dan Minde, who sent his grandson “Willie” and his siblings to the Ermineskin Residential School and hosted annual picnics for the students..DENIALIST: Len Marchand, former Kamloops IRS student and first status Indian federal cabinet minister. Marchand wrote in his memoir Breaking Trail: “I was never abused, and I never heard of anyone else who was mistreated at the Kamloops school.” He did not fear writing positively about the priests, nuns and brothers: “… they meant well by us, they genuinely cared about us, and they all did their duty by us as they saw fit.”.DENIALIST: Former AFN Grand Chief Phil Fontaine, speaking to the Winnipeg Free Press: “But there’s no doubt... in fact, it defies logic that there weren’t good people at these schools who actually cared about the kids. And there were some aspects of the residential school experience that were positive.”.DENIALISTS: Eight Manitoba chiefs who in their teens played hockey on the respected Assiniboia Indian Residential School hockey team..DENIALISTS: The “Treaty Indians and half-breeds” of Cross Lake who petitioned the government — twice — for the rebuilding of their residential school, destroyed by arsonists in 1930..DENIALIST: Former Liberal Attorney General Irwin Cotler: “If we say everything is a genocide, then nothing is a genocide.”.DENIALISTS: Eight Saskatchewan Indian bands. As reported in the Regina Leader-Post, Nov. 19, 1971, eight Saskatchewan bands passed a resolution requesting that the Marieval Indian Residential School be kept open..The Leader-Post reported: “Various spokesmen said the pupils are generally children from broken homes, orphans or are from inadequate homes. There is a great need for the school and the need is increasing, rather than diminishing. Many of the children have no other place to stay, as many have only grandparents, who through lack of space, health or age are unable to look after them.”.DENIALISTS: Saddle Lake First Nation residents demonstrated when, in 1970, the government proposed to close their school, Blue Quills. They protested by occupying the school. The protest resulted in indigenous control of the school, which continued until 1990..DENAILIST: Tomson Highway, playwright, novelist, classical pianist and Order of Canada recipient, says of the years he spent at Guy Hill Indian Residential School: “Nine of the happiest years of my life I spent it at that school.”.DENIALISTS: Every Prime Minister from Sir John A. Macdonald to Jean Chretien, including Pierre Trudeau, the father of our current Prime Minister..James C. McCrae is a former attorney general for Manitoba, and Canadian citizenship judge.
