Residential school denialism: what is it and how to recognize it

Residential school denialism does not deny the existence of the school system, but rather downplays, excuses or misrepresents facts about the harms caused by it, experts say.

Earlier this month, B.C. MLA Dallas Brodie was kicked out of the Conservative Party caucus after she made a series of comments questioning Indigenous people's experiences of residential schools.

In a post on X, Brodie responded by saying she was simply speaking the truth. She has previously told CBC News she refutes claims that she has been engaging in residential school denialism. 

However, experts, including historian Sean Carleton, say Brodie's comments are part of the "predictable" and "rigorously debunked" arguments used frequently by residential school deniers.

"I think it's important to define what residential school denialism is not, which is the denial of the system's existence or even that the system had some negative effects. We don't see a lot of that," said Carleton, who is also an assistant professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba.

Instead, he said, denialism is "a strategy to twist, downplay, misrepresent, minimize residential school truths in favour of more controversial opinions that the system was well-intentioned."

He said denialism in all forms — whether talking about climate change or flat Earth conspiracies — is "an attempt to shake public confidence in something that we have consensus about."

Patterns in behaviour, Carleton said, can help distinguish those who are asking questions in good faith from those who are trying to sow doubt. In Brodie's case, he said there were multiple instances where her comments failed to address the full reality of residential schools. 

"If you call Brodie, for example, a denier, she'll say, 'But I'm not denying — this is the truth. The truth is that they haven't found any bodies yet,'" he said.

"But then when you do the homework and you look at the pattern of what she's doing … she's not actually saying, 'Well, we know that 4,000 children have died in that system [with] 50 confirmed at Kamloops.'"

Crystal Gail Fraser, who is Gwichyà Gwich'in and an associate professor in history and Native studies at the University of Alberta, said she thinks about residential school denialism in terms of "little grey areas."

Like Carleton, she thinks it's important to note denialism is not about saying residential schools never happened. 

"[It's about] denying survivors' experiences, how they experienced their institutionalization as a child, but also the so-called intent of residential schools," she said. 

Fraser said she sees denialism when people suggest the residential school system had good intentions, as well as when people question the motives of survivors who share their stories.