If you've been a reader for a while, you know that events in Tla'amin Nation are something I actively follow. My deep connections within the community, including my best friend Ashley and Culturally Committed Mentor Emily White, have allowed me to witness firsthand the pain and sadness caused by the racism and bigotry perpetrated by some members of the Powell River community. Divisions about the town's name, the revitalization of traditional place names, and rifts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people can be intense. Sometimes, this tension erupts into very hurtful and racist comments on a community Facebook group that I follow. I strive to stand strong in my allyship and lend my voice whenever I can.
Dr. Evan Adams is another Tla'amin community member whose work I've followed for a long time. I first encountered him in 2014 when I was hired by the First Nations Health Authority, where he served as the Chief Medical Officer. Working with him at Gathering Our Voices and Gathering Wisdom, and hearing him speak at the Pacific Dental Conference, has been deeply inspiring. He is a compelling speaker and someone I deeply respect.
So, when I saw him share a Facebook post last Thursday discussing recent events in Tla'amin territory, it definitely caught my eye. The catalyst for his post was the recent City of Powell River Committee of the Whole Meeting held on Tuesday, July 9th, where Frances Widdowson, author and former Mount Royal University Professor, was invited to speak about 'truth and reconciliation' (22:18). During her speech, Widdowson emphasized the importance of establishing the real truth on which reconciliation can be built, then went on to challenge the findings of the 215 children buried at Kamloops residential school. She suggested that there is epistemic racism present in Powell River, explaining that it refers to "the positioning of the knowledge of one racialized group as superior to another, including a judgement of not only which knowledge is considered valuable, but is considered to be knowledge." Widdowson articulated that those who share the truth risk being called racist and that fear may cause "false information" to go unchallenged.
Dr. Adams had something to say about all of this and gave me permission to share it with our readers:
"Yesterday, an all-white panel in my hometown discussed 'truth' in residential school accounts. Purportedly, they’re concerned about the truth of what happened to us, when it’s fairly clear they were determined to undermine Survivor and investigator accounts, centered whiteness & pedestrian opinions/disruptiveness, rather than joining current discourse/work in that area (not about child deaths, not about Reconciliation, not about justice nor any humanity to help Survivors), just a nit-picking about the circumstances of Indigenous child experiences so as to minimize the gravity of what happened to our peoples. Just a smarmy, anti-authoritarian, anti-social superiority. Hearing from leaders and Survivors is way more important than this kind of self-important drivel. As my Dad - a residential school survivor - would say, 'They’re so far behind, they think they’re in front.'"
The next morning, the events in colonial Powell River were still lingering in my mind when I connected with a person who was interested in learning more about the conversations we share during our Culturally Committed Community Calls: "Do you ever talk about Indian Residential School Denialism? Is that something that comes up?"
Residential school denialism, as described by Dr. Daniel Heath Justice and Dr. Sean Carleton, is "not the outright denial of the Indian Residential School (IRS) system's existence, but rather the rejection or misrepresentation of basic facts about residential schooling to undermine truth and reconciliation efforts."
I shared about the circumstances in Powell River, and in turn, they spoke about the situation in Quesnel, where the mayor landed in the hot seat after news circulated that his wife was distributing a residential school denialism book. Unfortunately, many people are choosing to read and support denialist works when they could instead choose to read books from Survivors, like these.
I have been thinking a lot about denialism and these conversations over the weekend.
For most of my life, I knew nothing about the harms perpetrated against First Nations children at residential schools. That shift only started in 2014 when I began working in First Nations communities and started hearing accounts from community members. My unawareness was not unique: we live in a country that intentionally and systematically concealed the ugly past of this nation. When, in 2021, the 215 unmarked graves in Tk'emlups te Secwépemc First Nation were announced, the entire country was rocked by the news. I remember members of my own family expressing their disbelief that this could be true. How could we not have known what was happening?
But First Nations people have known. They have spoken out about what happened to them for a hundred years, and despite their disclosures, they have largely been ignored by the public. Discredited and dismissed, what they were saying couldn't possibly be true.
Now we live in a time when the truth is FINALLY coming out...and in response to that exposure, we are witnessing the uprising of residential school denialists who are challenging the truth of folks who have experienced unfathomable harm. In the name of "truth," evidence and disclosures are picked apart. In fact, the grounds of Tk'emlups te Secwépemc have round-the-clock security to prevent trespassers from going onto the property with their shovels to "prove" that there are no bodies in the ground.
When I shared this writing with Dr. Adams, he had one final comment to offer with me:
“The voices of Survivors - children who were actually there - will never compare to someone’s uninformed opinion of what did or didn’t happen at these schools. Centering white opinions over actual Survivor accounts - or even pushing Survivors’ voices so white people can sermonize - is criminal.”
I stand in solidarity with residential school survivors and their families. I honour their strength in sharing their truths, with the understanding that there are thousands of accounts that will never be heard. I commit to doing what I can to prevent further harms being perpetrated against a people who have already been harmed too much.
There are times when I feel that we are making progress in the pursuit of reconciliation in this country. Other times, I realize how far we have yet to go.
In learning,
Kim at Culturally Committed
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