A troubling occurrence is on the rise in these lands where First Peoples lived, stewarded, and thrived for thousands of years.
Denialism is rising in the face of hard truths of Indian Residential Schools which operated between the 1800s and well into the 1990s. In addition to this is the aggression within denialism when a narrative challenges their hard efforts denying survivors’ and their families’ truth.
In my capacity, as an Indigenous/settler scholar, I hear these stories from students and colleagues alike. They are stories of heartache, of making sense of someone you know and love placing energy into division and depowerment.
Denialists seek comfort in one another in their mutual pursuit for sanitized and revisionist histories demanding evidence while stoking fear for silence. This violent act is the final stage of genocide, an attempt on the breaking point of those living collective and cumulative trauma. “You don’t have immediate proof, therefore nothing happened.”
Common approaches of denialism operate in the sphere of:
1) Where are the bodies? Dig them up and show the world how hurt you are.
2) All schools at that time had some form of death. (No school should have a graveyard.)
3) Prove to me how much trauma you experienced, how much you lost. (No one must prove their level or measure of trauma in a way that you can understand. Trauma is trauma, done.)
Consider the June 16 CBC news report in which Kimberly Murray, the special interlocutor for Indian Residential School unmarked graves, described a Kamloops incident. “Denialists entered the site without permission. Some came in the middle of the night, carrying shovels; they said they wanted to ‘see for themselves’ if children are buried there.”
Denialism is built upon a foundation of anti-Indigenous racism intended to dismantle efforts toward reconciliation. As humans, we are capable of great harm to one another. We are also capable of great good, such as the work towards reconciliation.
I am saddened but not surprised that those standing up for truth or challenging denialism are quickly being targeted.
Those who deny residential school abuses and graves are a minority that subscribes to accessible propaganda that fits a comfortable narrative aimed at trivializing history while absolving themselves of white-settler guilt.
That said, denialists are a loud minority for now and we must give our energy to those who are working towards truth and reconciliation for the benefit of everyone.
Just as denialists believe it is their time to speak, those who choose to follow the path of truth deserve acknowledgement without attack.
If you must attack someone to prove a point, you reveal the predictable emotional reaction every human has when presented with a narrative that challenges your axiologies - the values you were socialized with. The only difference here is that those who are willing to sit with discomfort and acknowledge a narrative other than their own, have developed coping skills that prevent them from lashing out while remembering we are all in this together.
Truth before reconciliation works for everyone. Denialism only justifies the deep colonial wounds steeped in white superiority which got us here in the first place.
To all reading, look at your actions and your efforts for a moment. Look at your hands. Are you building for a better future together or is your energy aimed at dismantling and division?
Jessie King
Hadiksm Gaax
I am Git Lax M’oon, Gitxaała on my mother’s side and Irish/Scottish from my father.
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