Residential School Denialism: Competing Perspectives

Eleanore Sunchild, KC (Sunchild Law) and Professor Tom Flanagan (University of Calgary) join us to discuss residential school denialism and recent proposals to prohibit it under the Criminal Code. The conversation explores the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, competing claims about residential school history, and the evidence underlying contemporary debates over residential school denialism. Sunchild and Flanagan discuss questions surrounding abuse and mortality within residential schools, the removal of Indigenous children from their families, and ongoing debates regarding unmarked graves and alleged burial sites. The guests also examine proposed amendments to the Criminal Code, the relationship between free expression and reconciliation, and the legal and moral arguments for and against criminalizing certain forms of denial, downplaying, or misrepresentation. Along the way, the discussion considers the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, historical memory, and the role of criminal law in addressing disputed historical claims.