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As a young child, Dennis Saddleman’s mother always made sure he knew how much she loved him, giving him kisses on the forehead and telling him how beautiful he was.
That all changed when he was six years old, and those warm words turned ice cold when he was sent to Kamloops Indian Residential School. The priests and nuns tasked with caring for him constantly cursed him, beat him, forbade him to speak his language and practice his culture, and sexually abused him.
“I didn’t know what I was getting into when I got there,” he said in an interview on Parliament Hill in front of the Survivors’ Flag, which is intended to honor and commemorate residential school survivors.
“I couldn’t understand why they treated us like we were dogs. They punished us even though we were innocent.”
More than 150,000 indigenous children were forced into residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996. An estimated 6,000 children died in the schools, although experts say the actual number could be much higher.
Many survivors who testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission shared stories of abuse in institutions similar to Saddleman’s, and their words are included in her reports.
However, these stories are increasingly subject to what historian Sean Carleton calls “residential school denialism.”
He said denial is a strategy used to distort, misrepresent and distort basic facts about residential schools to undermine public trust in the stories of survivors and in the process of truth and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. to shake Canada.
“Overall, the purpose of denial is to protect the colonial status quo,” said Carleton, an assistant professor of history and indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.
He also said that some media outlets have been used to spread this misinformation.
That includes misrepresenting the number of children who died of tuberculosis in schools, saying that many people died of the disease at the time, and omitting the fact that federal government policies were reducing the impact of disease in residential schools was exacerbated by overcrowding, poor families, nutrition, and a lack of proper sanitation and ventilation.
‘Seeds of Doubt’: Carleton
Another common theme Carleton sees is that residential schools were “well-intentioned.” Deniers ignore that the stated purpose of the institutions was to disrupt the bonds of Indigenous families and accelerate their assimilation into Canada’s settler community.
“It’s a constant sowing of doubt about things that we don’t need to doubt about because we’ve already established the truth about them,” he said.
Some people even deny that students have died in the institutions at all, even though it has been documented through Canadian and church documents.
With U.S. President Joe Biden’s historic apology Friday for that country’s equivalent of residential schools, Carleton worries the increased attention will lead to even more denial.
LOOK | Biden apologizes for abuses at American boarding schools for indigenous children:
US President Joe Biden has formally apologized for past US policies regarding boarding schools for indigenous children. At least 973 children died in the violent school system that operated for 150 years and ended in 1969.
Survivors have called for protection from the harm caused by those who try to discredit their stories, or by those who try to take matters into their own hands and engage in hateful behavior.
NDP MP Leah Gazan has introduced a bill in the House of Commons ahead of National Truth and Reconciliation Day that aims to criminalize residential school denial.
“Denial of residential schools is hate speech, period,” Gazan said in an interview.
“After all the time that residential school survivors have spent in schools, why do we continue to allow hate speech and violence to be perpetrated against them? Why don’t elected officials do their utmost to protect survivors from hate speech? That is exactly what my bill intends to do.”
The bill proposes that anyone who, other than privately, promotes hatred of Indigenous people by “condoning, denying, trivializing or justifying the Indian residential school system in Canada or by misrepresenting facts relating thereto,” may be subject to a maximum of two years. in prison.
The bill contains some exceptions, including whether the statements are true, whether they are relevant to the public interest, whether they are intended to indicate hatred towards indigenous people or whether they are a religious opinion. It has little chance of becoming law unless it is passed by the governing Liberals.
Canada passed a similar law in 2022 to combat Holocaust denial, although no case has been successfully prosecuted under that provision to date.
Canada’s special interlocutor on missing children and unmarked graves, Kimberly Murray, has long called for government action to stem the tide of residential school denial.
Last year, she documented in a report the increasing attacks by deniers on communities investigating possible discoveries of unmarked graves.
In May 2021, the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced that ground-penetrating radar had uncovered what is believed to be 215 unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, where Saddleman attended. That made international headlines and angered people who attacked the community online.
“Some came in the middle of the night with shovels; they said they wanted to ‘see for themselves’ if children were buried there,” Murray wrote.
Her final report is expected to be released this week at a meeting in Gatineau, Que.
Saddleman said the abuse he suffered in Kamloops haunted him for years after he left school. He faced substance abuse issues and homelessness, and at the height of his pain, an attempt to commit suicide.
He said he stopped when he saw his abusers in a vision, saying they continued to taunt him and encourage him to continue.
Instead, he took the hatred, pain and shame inflicted on him at residential school, and “gave it back – I gave it back because it’s not mine.”
“I walked out of the darkness and I walked into the light,” he said. “The spirit and all this within me made me stand tall and know who I am.”
Legislation a first step
Carleton said while federal legislation may not stop all the denial and discrediting of survivors’ stories, it would be a step in the right direction, along with more education about residential schools and their ongoing impact on people and communities.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that his government should look “very carefully” at Gazan’s bill, saying that when limits are placed on freedom of expression, careful steps must be taken.
“Canadians understand that recognizing truth and reconciliation isn’t about feeling bad or guilty about Canada – it’s about committing every day to being a better Canada, and understanding that if we want to be the country we all want to be, we have to work hard in reconciliation,” he said.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said earlier this month that he supports the bill and will work with his colleagues on the next steps. There has been no commitment that the Liberals would adopt and pass the legislation.
“It is an issue that is deeply hurtful and particularly affects the survivors and their descendants,” he said.
In a statement, Conservative Crown-Indigenous Relations critic Jamie Schmale did not say whether his party supports the legislation but that it will “closely examine” it and participate in debates.
Gazan said the survivors are waiting for action.
“Knowing that this was an institutionalized genocide by the Canadian government, this is the least they can do.”
A national crisis line for Indian residential schools is available to provide support to survivors and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour service at 1-866-925-4419.
Mental health and crisis support is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness hotline at 1-855-242-3310 or via online chat.
