Governments and churches are obligated to stop denialism and hatred

OTTAWA—With no small amount of trepidation I choose to write. This column will spark the haters and my Twitter feed will again be inundated with denialism and racism. It has been more than two years since the Tk'emlúps te Secwe̓pemc announcement of 215 unmarked graves at the Kamloops residential school, followed by many more community-led searches. But the search for lost children will not stop at residential and day schools. Children were forcibly transferred between schools and to hospitals as well. The planned McGill University development on the old Royal Victoria Hospital site in Montreal was put on hold to investigate claims of unmarked burials of Indigenous people, including children. There will likely be more searches at more urban hospitals, because Indigenous children were lost all over this country while in the alleged care of the state. In the months following the Kamloops announcement which shook the country to its core, it was expected that an Indigenous individual might feel grief and loss, but then the residential school deniers came out to play. Residential school deniers refuse to accept that hundreds of children—children—died of minor ailments in residential schools because they were refused health treatment. Residential school deniers refuse to admit that those pious churches and government leaders could do wrong, much less genocide (the refusal to call it genocide in the federal government is denialism, too). Residential school deniers sneer at survivors who share their heart-breaking stories of abuse and lost friends at schools. Denialism would build parking lots over evidence and graves and then hold a party on it, just to rub it in. Dr. Marcia Anderson, who is Cree-Anishinaabe, calls it disenfranchised grief when “losses are not acknowledged or accepted as legitimate by the society around us,” according to the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutor's report, Addressing Trauma in the Search and Recovery of Missing Children. But denialism has an even more sinister potential. The more that denialism is given space, the more risk there is for Indigenous Peoples. When a loud voice on a stage dismisses our voices, others dismiss our right to safety on the street. This is why international forums are so concerned about countries that allow hatred against minorities—it’s a step on the nasty path to genocide. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. How about we don’t do again? A weird thing happened on the road to reconciliation. Federal, provincial and territorial governments, the Canadian Human Rights Commission and provincial and territorial commissions, and churches are missing in action in the fight against denialism. Maybe there’s some trepidation to ensuring an accurate history of residential schools is on the books? Uncomfortable for your institutions, perhaps? Too bad. Just doing what you did before? Just a note that it was the wrong move back then too. Every federal department has an obligation to respond in the face of residential school denialism, because silence is support. To every single minister and MP: you have an obligation to respond to denialism on the Hill or in your riding, because it was your institution that made residential schools. Both the House and the Senate must ensure denialism has no place in their committees, hallways and question periods, or the right to govern seems just a bit suspect. Every single province and territory needs to take strong action against denialism, in order to protect citizens from hatred. Media needs to block denialism in columns and comments, or risk being perceived as enablers of genocide denialism. Museums need to join together and refute denialism of residential school history, or lose Indigenous trust for another generation. Every single church needs to say something publicly against denialism or any credibility gained through reconciliation action will be erased. This fight for truth and factual history is not supposed to be fought by Indigenous Peoples. It’s your responsibility, Canada. You made residential schools, you wrote racist the historical policies and laws, you fix it. Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth. The Hill Times