I'm Sierra Bettens, this is ABTN News in Focus.
On this episode, dealing with denialism.
There are articles condemning those who do it.
And there is even proposed federal legislation to make it illegal.
Yet, residential school denialism is alive and well in Canada.
And the people at the heart of it criticize talk of reconciliation,
scoff at those who say the residential school system was racist and genocidal,
and call the discovery of unmarked graves a hoax.
And now, some denialists who once hid on the internet are out in the open speaking in public and writing books.
And through social media, they're gaining momentum.
Survivors like Jennifer Wood say they've been dealing with the lifetime of denialism
about what they experienced at residential schools as children.
And Wood spoke about this with ABTN host Dennis Ward on Face to Face.
I feel sad that she's taking that stance and using that kind of energy
to deny such a fact of life that actually is the truth.
Why doesn't she turn that energy around of what she's doing and come and learn and sit with us
and talk to survivors and go to First Nations and learn how to say hello in our language
and talk to some survivors that endured abuses?
Why doesn't she put her energy into that?
She'd be a much better person for it.
Today, a new generation of Indigenous youth are mobilizing to combat residential school denialism.
Benjamin Kutcher is one of them.
The Métis Archaeology graduate student at the University of Alberta
has spoken nationally on the harms of residential school denialism.
And he, along with Métis activist Tracy Leost,
co-word a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney calling on the federal government to combat residential school denialism.
The two youth have outlined their demands through five calls to action,
including amending the criminal code to recognize denialism as an act of hate speech
and finding community-led initiatives to counter it.
Benjamin joins me now to talk about those demands and why institutions must take action.
Thanks so much for joining us, Benjamin.
Thanks for having me.
So I want to start with the letter that you sent Prime Minister Mark Carney,
which outlines five calls to action.
And so the first one talks about implementing obligations 35 to 37
of the Office of the Independent Special Interlocutors final report.
Can you talk a bit about what these obligations are
and why they're important to combating residential school denialism?
Yeah, so obligation 35 calls on the federal government to combat Indian residential school denialism.
36 calls for provisions within Bill C63, which is the act to enact the online harms act,
to specifically address harms caused by denialism about residential schools,
including the missing and disappeared children and unmarked burials.
Obligation 37 calls for the amendments to the criminal code,
making it an offense to willfully promote hatred against indigenous peoples,
by condoning, denying, downplaying, or justifying the residential school system,
or by misrepresenting facts related to it.
This denialism is profoundly harmful and retraumatizes survivors
who have courageously shared their truths and it undermines intergenerational survivors
who are working tirelessly for healing and towards damages
for the national journey of reconciliation.
Thanks for that.
And you know, kind of going back a bit, I'm also wondering what prompted you,
as well as Tracy, to send this letter on September 30th,
the national day for truth and reconciliation.
Yeah, so me and Tracy had the idea to send this letter on the national day
for truth and reconciliation, because denialism is not just this abstract debate.
It's an urgent and growing harm.
And it's something that myself, as well as Tracy and others doing the work of
locating unmarked graves have faced over the past few years.
And the special interlocutor released her report in October of last year,
and there has been no action on it.
And so as close to the anniversary of the government receiving that report,
we wanted to make sure that this call doesn't go ignored
and that the federal government has an ethical and moral obligation to address this issue.
And I was curious, you know, you worked a lot as a student activist,
you know, speaking on a national level against residential school denialism.
Can you talk a bit about that work and, you know, what you've learned from that?
Yeah, so what I've learned from doing this type of work and speaking out
against denialism is that there are a large portion of the population
that doesn't fully understand the extent of the harm of the residential schools.
In facing denialism, you know, as an indigenous person,
we I've faced racist remarks, threats and overall just trying to silence my voice.
And so I felt with my identity and my responsibility to my communities and survivors
that it's time to confront the ongoing harms of colonialism, denialism and this ongoing erasure.
The biggest thing that I've taken away in engaging with combating denialism
is that a lot of denialists want clickbait.
They want you to provoke a reaction so they can perpetuate a narrative
that we are being aggressive and trying to ruin the reputation of Canada by bringing this topic forward.
And so you're also a graduate student in archaeology.
And you're also the chair of the Canadian Archaeologists Association's Indigenous Issues Committee.
And I'm kind of wondering, you know, how do you see your work as an archaeologist as a student,
you know, connecting with truth and reconciliation? Can you talk a bit about that?
Yeah, so for me as an archaeologist, archaeology has the tools to help communities identify
and locate these unmarked graves.
And using this knowledge and skills that I have in ground penetrating radar
and other archaeological methods is one way that academia can be used to help advance social causes
and uncovering the truth about residential schools.
Through my role with the Canadian Archaeological Association,
our committee is designed to help archaeologists who are Indigenous or non-Indigenous
identify what the best practices are.
And really that role is to be a facilitator for conversations
and figuring out how to move forward.
And I think that's part of how the Special Enthalicators Report comes back into this,
is it outlines what steps need to be taken.
And now it's about turning what we've learned into action.
And, you know, ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation,
you know, we saw an optic in residential school denialism, you know, with people
speaking on campus about these things.
What message do you think it sends when institutions allow people to
publicly push residential school denialism?
Yeah, so I think first and foremost it's to identify that denialism,
its very goal is to undermine people's confidence
in the work that is being done around unmarked graves.
When it comes to academic institutions providing a platform,
what I can say to that is universities are a space for academic debate.
Not everyone is going to agree on various topics,
but when it comes to residential schools and marking the 10-year anniversary
of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report,
these are not facts that are up for debate.
We have learned the truth from survivors,
from the archives going through the documents.
And so I think there needs to be a critical examination of
what is academic freedom, freedom of speech, versus hate speech and hate crimes.
So I want to go back to the letter, and you know, two of your calls to action
are focusing on legal reparations, you know, amending
Bill 63, as well as amending the criminal code
to recognize denialism as an act of hate speech.
I'm wondering if you can talk about the importance of
legal changes to counter residential school denialism.
Yeah, so when it comes to legal changes to counter denialism,
the reason we're pushing for this is we've seen a lot of talk
from the federal government and different organizations about
standing with survivors, but very little action has been taken.
By implementing these legal changes, we are putting in a framework saying that
yes, we acknowledge what has happened, and there need to be
reforms so that the continued trauma that Indigenous people face across the
country aren't repeated.
And another call to action, you know, is asking the federal government to provide
funding for community initiatives to counter denialism.
And I'm wondering, what do you think some of these initiatives
might look like in practice?
In practice, and the whole reason behind this call to action
is that education, in the words of Murray Sinclair,
is what got us into this mess, and education is what is going to get us out.
A lot of people don't fully understand the extent of harm that residential
schools perpetuated, both when they were in operation and now
years later through intergenerational trauma.
When it comes to specific action items, I think of the National Advisory
Committee on Unmarked Graves, which operated for two years trying to help
communities navigate the process of doing these searches.
And earlier this year, the federal government decided to stop
providing funding to that committee, and it can no longer do the work that needs
to do. So by providing these funding and resources,
the government is going to stand behind communities
to show them that this is something that matters and it's something that needs to
be addressed. But when that funding gets pulled away,
it tells us that reconciliation and finding out the truth
of residential schools is not something that's important for the government.
And so it's now been two days since you sent that letter to
Prime Minister Mark Carney's office. I'm wondering, have you heard a response yet?
We have not heard a response from the Prime Minister's office.
When we sent the letter, it was also cc'd to Sean Frazier and the Governor General,
as well as the Mandigal, Masty, and Rebecca.
The minister is responsible for Crown Indigenous Relations and Indigenous
Services Canada. And we've gotten their kind of out-of-office
automatic reply that the email has been received, but no action has been taken on it.
Before I let you go, I just want to ask, what comes
next in working to combat residential school
denials and this rise in residential school denialism
that we're seeing? You as an activist, you as an
archaeologist, how do you plan to keep fighting this?
I think for me, the way we keep fighting this
is recognizing that with the denialists, we share a common audience
and that is the public. And so I have a responsibility
to put out the facts and my opinions on the situation
and leave it to the public to judge. But there is continued need to pressure
the federal government, the provincial governments,
to address the concerns of Indigenous people when we are facing such acts of
violence and harm. And until such action happens,
I intend, along with Tracy and others, to keep pressuring for changes.
All right, well thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us, Benjamin.
Really appreciate it. Thanks so much for having me.
Today's episode was produced by Mark Blackburn and edited by Jesse Andrewsko.
Charmaine Straker is the executive producer of APTN News in Focus.
If you're liking the show, please leave a review.
And if you have any comments or ideas, email them to
[email protected].
For more APTN News podcasts, visit aptnnews.ca
or find us on your favorite player. I'm Sierra Bettins. Thanks for listening.
Talk to you next week.
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