The Lhtako Dene Nation called out the City of Quesnel for the actions of someone in an elected official’s family. Specifically, the concern was about the apparent circulation of an objectionable book by the unnamed person. The person’s connection to the council table was so close as to cause relationship damage between the region’s municipal government and Indigenous government.
A letter was dispatched to City Hall, and put on the official record at Tuesday night’s council meeting, describing a painful act of denialism of the suffering inflicted by the residential school system.
The letter stated:
Dear Mr. Mayor and Council:
It has come to our attention that a person related to a member of the City’s elected has been distributing a book entitled: Grave Error - How The Media Misled Us (And The Truth About Residential Schools). This book makes many harsh comments including “truth has been turned into a casualty,” implying that cultural genocide did not occur, and basically questioning the existence of Indian Residential Schools.
The Nation should not have to defend the findings of the Truth And Reconciliation Commission, the T’Kemlups te Secwepem’c First Nation, and the Williams Lake First Nation (amongst others) that have been so severely castigated by the authors of the book. The calling into question of what our Nation went through is a slap in our people’s collective faces and is very hurtful to them. The Nation has a significant number of members who suffered through attendance at a Residential School and today suffer through the long-term trauma of what they went through. The book adds to that hurt.
A major point made by the book is that “cultural genocide” did not occur at Residential Schools. “Cultural genocide” is defined by the Armenian Genocide Museum as:
Acts and measures undertaken to destroy nations’ or other ethnic groups’ culture through spiritual, national, and cultural destruction.” In 2015, Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada stated that Canada’s historic treatment of Indigenous persons was an attempt at cultural genocide and the worst stain on the Canadian historic record. CULTURAL GENOCIDE DID OCCUR THROUGH PLACING INDIGENOUS CHILDREN IN INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS!
We ask that the Mayor and Council reaffirm the terms of the Memorandum Of Understanding between the City and us. We would also appreciate the opportunity to have some of our Elders, who experienced Residential School attendance, meet with the Mayor and Council to provide first-hand knowledge of the treatment they were subjected to and survived.
Yours truly
Lhtako Dene Nation