Canadian Member of Parliament Leah Gazan has introduced legislation that would make extreme forms of residential school denialism a criminal offence when they wilfully promote hatred against Indigenous peoples.

Canada already has laws against the wilful promotion of hatred. So why do we need another one? And what about freedom of speech?

Deliberately denying or minimizing what happened in residential schools can be more than a disagreement about history. It can become a way of promoting hatred against the people who suffered. Gazan’s proposal would specifically address the use of residential school denialism to promote hatred against Indigenous peoples.

In 2022, Parliament made it a criminal offence to wilfully promote antisemitism by denying, condoning or downplaying the Holocaust. The law recognized that denying or minimizing an atrocity can become a means of promoting hatred against its victims.

Older Canadians will remember Ernst Zündel, who spent years publishing material denying and minimizing the Holocaust. His legal battles demonstrated the difficulties Canadian authorities faced in dealing with Holocaust denial under existing laws. He was eventually deported to his native Germany in 2005 on national security grounds, where Holocaust denialism was already a crime.

Residential school denialism often follows a similar pattern. Rather than denying that residential schools existed, denialists may claim that the schools were not so bad, that survivors’ testimonies are unreliable, that the deaths of children have been exaggerated or that the Canadian government did not deliberately cause the harm that occurred.

The historical record tells a different story. It includes survivor testimony, government documents and evidence of conditions that caused terrible suffering and death.

The 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention identifies five acts that can constitute genocide. Among them are causing serious bodily or mental harm and forcibly transferring children from one group to another. To constitute genocide, those acts must be committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

Canada’s residential school system must be examined against that definition. Under the Indian Act, federal authorities had the power to compel First Nations children to attend residential schools, even against their families’ wishes. Government officials were warned that children were dying in disproportionate numbers because of conditions in those institutions. Yet the government failed to make the changes necessary to protect them.

That failure adds to the evidence that the residential school system was genocidal.

Some have argued that what occurred was cultural genocide rather than genocide as defined in international law. But forcibly transferring children between groups is expressly included in the Genocide Convention when the required intent is established. In 2022, the House of Commons unanimously recognized Canada’s residential school system as an act of genocide.

Yet despite the survivor testimony and historical records, people continue to deny or minimize what happened. For survivors and their families, that denialism challenges the truth of what they experienced. When that denialism is deliberately used to promote hatred, the harm goes further.

While education is essential, it cannot always stop those determined to deny historical atrocities. The Holocaust was already extensively documented when Ernst Zündel began spreading his lies. Scholars exposed his falsehoods, but he continued spreading them.

Residential school denialists continue making claims that survivors, historians and other respected academics have challenged. But the real problem is not simply that some people reject the evidence. It is that denialism can be deliberately used to promote hatred against Indigenous peoples.

That is why Gazan’s proposal deserves support. Denying or minimizing the suffering of residential school survivors is bad enough. Deliberately using those distortions to promote hatred against Indigenous peoples is something Canada should not tolerate.

Questioning history is one thing. Deliberately distorting it to promote hatred is another.

Freedom of expression matters. But it does not give anyone an unlimited right to promote hatred against others.

No law will eliminate denialism. The 2022 Holocaust denial provisions have not eliminated antisemitism, and Gazan’s legislation will not eliminate hatred against Indigenous peoples. But that does not mean Canada should allow people to deliberately promote hatred through the denial of documented atrocities.

Denialism is baked into the genocidal mindset. Canada cannot claim to be committed to truth and reconciliation while ignoring the deliberate use of residential school denialism to promote hatred against Indigenous peoples.

Explore more on Residential Schools, Hate speech, Aboriginal reconciliation, Free speech

The views, opinions, and positions expressed by our columnists and contributors are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of our publication.

© Troy Media

Troy Media empowers Canadian community news outlets by providing independent, insightful analysis and commentary. Our mission is to support local media in helping Canadians stay informed and engaged by delivering reliable content that strengthens community connections and deepens understanding across the country.