First Nations chiefs blast Senate for not outlawing residential school denialism
Senators voted 41-32 on Jun. 3 against making it a crime punishable by prison to publicly condone, deny, or downplay the Indian Residential School system.
The push for “truth and reconciliation” collided with unresolved questions Thursday as First Nation chiefs blasted Parliament for refusing to criminalize Indian Residential School “denialism.” No remains have been excavated to verify the headline-making burial site claims.
The Assembly of First Nations erupted at the Senate after senators sank a bill that would have sent people to prison for up to two years for denying Indian Residential School abuses, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“It is a shame that we live in a country that will not protect our people from hate crimes,” Manitoba Grand Chief Garrison Settee of Pimicikamak Cree Nation told reporters Thursday at the AFN AGM in Ottawa.
“The Senate defeated a bill that would amend the Criminal Code to include Residential School denialism as a crime. Our people have been through a lot.”
