Residential school deniers tried to dig up suspected unmarked grave sites at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, not believing a May 2021 announcement from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc that as many as 215 Indigenous children had been buried there, according to a new report.
And everyone looks at the Germans for being weird about the Jewish Holocaust.
Both my parents were survivors of residential schools in the 40s and 50s. It happened, it was real, it was terrible.
The fact that idiots are out there denying it means that this history is continuing to happen today.
First off, I’m sorry this happened to your family and others.
Growing up in the BC interior in the 1970s what has surprised me about this whole awful situation is that we (white kids in public schools hanging out with lots of First Nations kids) didn’t know about it at all. It wasn’t mentioned by anyone. There was lots of anti-FN racism in my family and in my neighbourhood; I’m surprised even that this wasn’t discussed in a derogatory manner. There was just NO talk about it.
The fact that you are acknowledging this and identifying it as wrong is a great sign of progress.
We can’t expect the world to change overnight … but any change even if it is one person is progress.
Imagine being triggered by someone else’s genocide.
I think I threw my back out trying to land that mental backflip
I can get not wanting to believe that the horrific and systemic treatment of kids in residential schools happened, but what I don’t get, is that how denailists like this think that indigenous groups have something to gain by raising awareness about this genocide.
While not explicitly stated in the article, I can almost guarantee it was some bigots trying to prove themselves right, permitting continue to marinate in their own farts.
White supremacists have a view of history that revolves around, well, white superiority. That includes the idea that white people, and especially white institutions, would not engage in genocide.
They need to shut down talk of stuff like this - like, desperately need to - because it threatens their identity and entire world view. They’re taking the idea that white people, and particularly white Canadians, and especially white Canadian religious institutions could be associated with a known bad-ideas like “genocide” and “child murder” as an existential threat.
And it kind of is, at least to their understanding of the world.
“Denialism is a non-Indigenous problem and therefore it’s for non-Indigenous people to address it,” said Murray.
This right here. This is not a thing to ignore or be “polite” about. We need to be better in this country.
100%.
History should never be glossed over or denied (though historical candor is painfully uncommon). If we are to better ourselves as humans, we need to look at our past, warts and all.
History is meant to be there for us to learn from our mistakes. however we’re addicted to our own hubris and like a junkie, and are hopelessly trapped in perpetual cycle of self destruction
This will continue to be a major problem as long as we’re stuck with the word “suspected.” According to this, the reason we continue to say “suspected” is because ground penetrating radar cannot be used to unambiguously confirm a burial site. So far, that requires someone to actually dig. Has there been enough digging to verify that the combination of oral history and technology is enough to go on?
Even for those of us who acknowledge the reality of the various horrors, including this one, we have to eventually stop using the word “suspected” with respect to this particular issue. There is a difference between certainty and proof and we must bridge that gap.
You’re right about using “suspected” too often, but this type of denialism isn’t caused by that. Strengthened perhaps, but these types would always find excuses to deny
Yes, there will always be extremist denialists, but there will also always be those swayed by actual physical evidence. I think the latter is where our focus should be.
It’s horrifying that my country is full of so many of these bigots who firmly deny the truth that Canada genocided the indigenous populations. And RECENTLY.
I don’t think enough people realize just how recent this happened. The last residential school closed down in 1997.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_residential_schools_in_Canada
Nor do I think they understand how long it went on for, and how many generations were subjected to these schools. According to the Wiki, the first opened in 1828, with a boom of new schools opening from the 1860’s onward.
From the the time the first school opened to the time the last closed: 169 years.
I’m horrified.
