Justice Minister Lametti Says Ottawa Open to Outlawing Residential School Denialism

New report suggests imposing criminal and civil sanctions against 'denialists'

Indigenous artists from across Canada perform at St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City on April 1, 2022. Pope Francis on that day made a historic apology to indigenous peoples for the Catholic-run Indian residential schools in Canada. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Federal Justice Minister David Lametti says he is open to the recommendations in a new report that proposes civil and criminal sanctions against Canadians who engage in residential-school denialism.

Lametti was responding to an interim report by his appointee, Kimberly Murray, a member of the Kahnesatake Mohawk Nation in Quebec, who was tasked in June 2022 to identify measures including legal ones to address what the government said were unmarked graves and burial sites of children at former Indian residential schools.

“Sacred Responsibility: Searching for the Missing Children and Unmarked Burials” was released on June 16 in Saskatchewan, at the Cowessess First Nation’s Marieval Survivors Gathering, according to a news release.

Murray’s interim report said that the federal government should give “urgent consideration” to using legal tools to deal with “denialists,” which should include both civil and criminal sanctions. “Many international experts point out that denialism is the last step in genocide,” the report says.

Lametti participated in the event by video conference and said he is open to all suggestions to deal with alleged residential-school denialism. He said that includes “a legal solution and outlawing it,” stating that Canada can consider how other countries have criminalized Holocaust denial.

“Today’s report will provide crucial guidance as we continue to acknowledge the truth of what has happened and strive to write a different story for the future of our country,” said Lametti in the news release.

‘Denialists’

Murray was the executive director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada from 2010 to 2015 and served as Ontario’s assistant deputy attorney general for indigenous justice from 2015 to 2021.

Her report alleges that “denialists” are questioning the announcements of possible unmarked graves of indigenous children who went to church- or state-run schools in the 19th and 20th century.

Her report said, “This violence is prolific and takes place via email, telephone, social media, op-eds and, at times, through in-person confrontations.”

According to Murray, after the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation in B.C. announced that preliminary findings from a radar survey of the ground had discovered what could be up to 215 unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May 2021, “denialists” wanted proof.

“Some came in the middle of the night, carrying shovels; they said they wanted to ‘see for themselves’ if children are buried there. Denialists also attacked the community on social media.”

Murray wrote that “a core group of Canadians continue to defend the Indian Residential Schools System.” She said “others try to deny and minimize the destructive impacts” of residential schools and suggest some children benefited from the education provided by the school staff.

Murray, in her role as independent special interlocutor, travelled the country to hear the concerns of First Nations communities.

So far, no excavations to recover remains have been performed at any of the sites alleged to potentially contain unmarked graves of indigenous children.

“Canadians cannot take pride in a country that permits the burials of children to be violently disrespected, allows shovels to dig into the bones of ancestors, and hides from the truth,” the report said.

A woman is comforted in the audience during the closing ceremony of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on June 3, 2015. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)

Advocate

“They have the evidence. The photos of burials. The records that prove that kids died. It is on their shoulders,” Murray said on June 16 in Saskatchewan as she presented her interim report. “The government of Canada and the churches must step up,” she said.

The report lays out how Murray views her position. “I want to emphasize this point: my role is to give voice to the children. It is not to be neutral or objective—it is to be a fierce and fearless advocate to ensure that the bodies and Spirits of the missing children are treated with the care, respect, and dignity that they deserve,” she writes in the report.

“International human rights and humanitarian law are clear: upholding human rights principles does not require me to be morally indifferent to the fate of children who are victims of genocide, mass human rights violations, and injustice,” she said.

In June 2021, Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan announced that preliminary findings from the use of ground-penetrating radar had suggested 751 unmarked graves at a community cemetery near a former Indian residential school, CBC reported. At the time, Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme said, “This is not a mass grave site. These are unmarked graves.”

According to Delorme, at one point in history, the graves may have had markers, but these may have been removed by the Roman Catholic church in the 1960s. He also acknowledged that the graves may not contain children, and it is not known if they have any connection to a nearby residential school that was there from 1899 to 1997.

While the First Nations chief said some of the remains could belong to people who attended the church or lived in nearby towns, Delorme also said the community would be treating the site “like a crime scene.”

‘Hate Speech’

According to Murray’s report, in February 2023 MP Leah Gazan said that “denying genocide is a form of hate speech. That kind of speech is violent and re-traumatizes those who attended residential school.”

Gazan “is proposing to draft legislation that would make Indian Residential School denialism a hate crime,” notes the report, agreeing with the proposal. “Urgent consideration should be given to legal mechanisms to address denialism, including the implementation of both civil and criminal sanctions,” it states.

The report quotes Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller as stating, “Residential school denialism attempts to hide the horrors that took place in these institutions. It seeks to deny Survivors and their families the truth, and distorts Canadians’ understanding of our shared history.” According to the report, Miller said he is interested in reviewing the proposed legislation.

The report also suggests that only Canadians who are not First Nations people are denying the issue. “Denialism is a uniquely non-Indigenous problem,” says the report.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.