A Conservative candidate in the Canadian province of British Columbia has sparked an outcry by sharing material on social media which promotes "residential school denialism" and "historical revisionism," says a senior First Nations leader.
Union of BC Indian Chiefs president, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, told PressProgress he was outraged and disgusted by the antics of candidate Sheldon Clare.
"I find it to be outrageous, disgusting and very, very sad that there are people out there that harbour those deep racist views in a country that has such enormous potential in terms of social harmony as Canada," he said.
Mr Clare, the BC Conservative candidate in Prince George–North Cariboo, has long attacked Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, previously advocating "challenging the myths" of the Commission's findings and suggesting residential schools actually created "opportunities" for Indigenous children, despite the institutions being notorious for appalling conditions, ill-treatment, and high death rates.
In several months across late 2020 and early 2021, approximately 1300 unmarked graves were discovered at the sites of five former residential schools, which many suggest is the tip of the iceberg.
In January 2023, the Canadian government announced it would pay $3billion in compensation to First Nations, Métis and Inuit survivors of residential schools.
In April 2022, Pope Francis apologised to Canada's Indigenous people for the Catholic church's role in abuse and "cultural genocide" at the country's residential schools.
That same year, Mr Clare shared an article on Facebook criticising the Truth and Reconciliation Commission published by a self-described "semi-academic" history journal called the Dorchester Review.
The Review is the brainchild of Chris Champion, a historian who faced a public backlash over "reprehensible and disgusting" residential school social media posts while he was working to overhaul Alberta's social studies curriculum for Jason Kenney's government.
The Review article shared by Mr Clare disputes the number of Indigenous children who were forced into residential schools and questions the "intergenerational trauma" suffered by the descendants of residential school survivors. The article also attacked the credibility of Commissioner Murray Sinclair.
Grand Chief Phillip said "Murray Sinclair is an amazing individual" and said Mr Clare and the authors of the Dorchester Review are "ignorant" and have "no idea of what they're writing about".
"Our people were horribly abused in the residential schools and it has been the subject of countless studies and reports and commissions and things of that nature," he said.
"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission itself travelled the entire country taking first-hand testimony from victims of the residential schools. I attended some of those sessions and it was just absolutely heart-breaking to hear the testimony from people who were abused."
Mr Clare has defended the impact of the residential schools, commenting on the record that students benefited from opportunities provided by the institutions.
He also wrote on social media he was "tired of seeing" the high infant mortality rates among First Nations children caused by tuberculosis and smallpox, diseases introduced to Canada by colonisation and in some documented cases deliberately spread by settler forces, "described as genocide".
The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs has long taken a strong stand against historical revisionism and the denial of the crimes of the residential school system.
Grand Chief Phillip said the residential school system was "designed to deliberately destroy Indigenous language, culture, spirituality in order to take us off the land".
"The real intent of the residential schools was to destroy our spiritual attachment to the land," he said.
"There are ministers of the Crown back in those days that said we need to 'take the Indian out of the child' through the residential school system which featured harsh penalties for Indigenou students caught speaking their language and singing or anything that reflected their culture."
The UBCIC president said Mr Clare's commentary was "a reflection of the incredible, astonishing level of ignorance that exists when it comes to the true history of colonisation as it pertains to the Indigenous people of these lands".
Grand Chief Phillip told PressProgress Mr Clare's postings not only raise questions about whether he can represent Indigenous constituents, but raise questions about his fitness for public office.
"People who spread their hate and grossly distorted notions of history are an impediment to communities and provinces and the country itself coming together to build a better future for our children," he said.
"It's absolutely divisive and counterproductive to spread that racist crap."
BC Conservative leader John Rustad has pledged to repeal laws of the province which uphold the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
