By: Jonah Lazar, Staff Writer
On January 29, Dr. Sean Carleton of the University of Manitoba led a webinar titled Truth Before Reconciliation hosted by SFU’s archaeology, history, English, and Indigenous studies departments. In this webinar, Carleton aimed to address an increasing trend in mainstream Canadian media of residential school denialism, which has taken centre stage in Vancouver.
The Tyee has written that “residential school denialism is not the outright denial of the Indian Residential School system’s existence, but rather the rejection or misrepresentation of basic facts about residential schooling to undermine truth and reconciliation efforts.”
Last year, Dallas Brodie, a British Columbian MLA representing the Vancouver-Quilchena district, was ousted from the provincial Conservative caucus for mocking testimonies of residential school survivors, and has since co-founded the alt-right, OneBC political party. On January 22, she appeared at UBC’s Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre to debate the legitimacy of the 215 suspected unmarked graves found in Kamloops five years ago. There, she was met with almost a thousand protesters and the RCMP eventually escorted her off the premises.
Following the event at UBC, the UBC Indigenous Student Society, Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, and BC Assembly of First Nations all condemned the “university’s decision not to prohibit the demonstration.” In an open letter, the Union wrote that residential school denialism “promotes white supremacy, racism, and misinformation.”
Tarene Thomas, a First Nations PhD student at UBC, told CBC that the demonstration “created an unsafe space on campus for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis staff and students.” She said the university “should have done a better job at protecting us,” and that even after leaving campus, “it [the event] still heavily impacted me. I still had a really awful day.”
This situation is part of what Carleton sees as a growing trend in Canada of residential school denialism. Carleton, a former SFU student, is now an assistant professor in the University of Manitoba’s history and Indigenous studies departments. Here, he has extensively studied the history of residential schools in BC.
During the webinar, he asserted that the rise in denialism regarding the cultural genocide and forced assimilation of Indigenous Peoples perpetrated via the use of residential schools can be partially attributed to “willful amensia.” This is a form of denialism where people are resistant to the idea that Canada could have perpetrated such violence. Politicized forgetting has led to certain people profiting from spreading misinformation about residential schools online and garnering attention by hosting inflammatory debates against professors and students regarding the issue.
Carleton believes this problematic theme is all too common on university campuses. “It gives the false impression that [these are] duelling, equally weighted views,” he said.
“Denialists will make pleas to academic freedom, freedom of speech, the necessity of debate and dialogue, as a way of further entrenching these ideas as legitimate; as ‘another perspective.’”
— Dr. Sean Carleton, assistant professor of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba
At numerous reprises during this webinar, he referred to residential school denialism as “a copy and paste of Holocaust denialism,” where people use similar tactics of spreading dangerous and hurtful misinformation to garner media attention.
Despite this wave of misinformation, Carleton holds hope for the future. “The truth has been established,” he said. “We just need to keep building better relationships and focus on dignity and respect for one another.”
