Kimberly Murray, the 'independent special interlocutor on missing children, unmarked graves and burial sites associated with residential schools,' is turning up the heat on the airy-fairy notion of 'residential school denialism.'.'Airy-fairy' because it is defined differently by whoever is using it and because it represents an assault on Canada’s constitutionally protected freedom of speech..According to Murray, a residential school denialist is anyone “questioning, or outright denying, that children disappeared or died in residential schools.”.This broad definition arbitrarily conflates disappearance with death, ignores the innocuous destruction or loss of many school records over the years, fails to reveal relatively few enrolled school children were buried on school grounds because they were sent home or to hospitals when they became very ill, and refuses to admit the absence of a single credible example of a student murdered during the 113 years 150,000 students attended these government controlled and church-operated institutions..But even writing these words makes me a residential school denialist, a term actually referring to anyone questioning the hyper-simplified prevailing narrative using sound, factual evidence.. Kimberly MurrayKimberly Murray, BA, LL.B, IPC., Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential Schools. .A more expansive definition of denialism comes from Daniel Heath Justice and Sean Carleton who call it, “the rejection or misrepresentation of basic facts about residential schooling to undermine truth and reconciliation efforts . . . in ways that ultimately protect the status quo as well as guilty parties.”.This definition perfectly applies to Kimberly Murray’s attempt to misrepresent the facts about burials and deaths at the residential schools, in this case the “guilty parties” being members of the powerful and lucrative Indian Industry..In her interim report released in June, Murray detailed how “denialists” are attacking the communities that announce possible unmarked graves. “This violence is prolific,” the report said. “And takes place via e-mail, telephone, social media, op-eds and, at times, through in-person confrontations.”.“Violence,” a term ordinary citizens think refers to behavior or treatment where physical force is exerted to cause damage or injury, has been extraordinarily expanded by Murray and other free-speech censors..The report included a call that “urgent consideration” be given to creating legal mechanisms to deal with the problem, including “the implementation of both civil and criminal sanctions.”.Murray said denialism is never going to be fully addressed by one piece of legislation, but she said changes, such as amending the Criminal Code to make it a crime to incite hate against residential school survivors, could help facilitate discussion..According to an Aug. 28 story in the Globe and Mail, Kimberly Murray says she has met with Canada’s new Justice Minister, Arif Virani, and hopes he will move to address this issue..In a statement, Virani said residential schools are “part of the horrific legacy of colonialism and racism which characterized Canada’s approach to Indigenous peoples,” ignoring that these institutions were established to overcome the worse features of colonialism, namely the loss of traditional livelihood strategies such as hunting following the near extinction of the bison and the decline in commercial fur trapping..As for racism, a truly racist federal government would have simply allowed Canada’s aboriginal peoples to die off on their hungry reserves..It would certainly not have given food supplies to them or inoculated all indigenous people against smallpox, as the Sir John A. Macdonald government did during the 1880s..Virani said the government will give proper consideration to Murray’s recommendations as it awaits her final report next year..Canada’s very own Night of the Long Knives may soon be upon us..Hymie Rubenstein is editor of REAL Indigenous Report and a retired professor of anthropology, the University of Manitoba
