Canada should consider legal solution to fight residential school denialism: report
CTV
Canada should give 'urgent consideration' to legal mechanisms as a way to combat residential school denialism, says a new report from the independent special interlocutor on unmarked graves.
Canada should give "urgent consideration" to legal mechanisms as a way to combat residential school denialism, says a new report from the independent special interlocutor on unmarked graves.
Justice Minister David Lametti said he is open to such a solution.
Kimberly Murray made the call in an interim report released Friday, just over a year after she was appointed to an advisory role focused on how Ottawa can help Indigenous communities search for children who died and disappeared from residential schools.
The former executive director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada spent much of the past year travelling the country and hearing from different communities, experts and survivors.
The Liberal government created her role as it looked for ways to respond to First Nations from across Western Canada and in parts of Ontario using ground-penetrating radar to search former residential school sites for possible unmarked graves.
In her interim report, Murray raised concerns about increasing attacks from "denialists" who challenge communities when they announce the discovery of possible unmarked graves.
"This violence is prolific," the report said. "And takes place via email, telephone, social media, op-eds and, at times, through in-person confrontations."
