NDP's Leah Gazan tables bill to end residential school denialism

OTTAWA — On Thursday, NDP MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) tabled a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons —billC-413— aimed at combatting residential school denialism and stopping the harm it causes to Survivors, their families, and First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.

If passed, this bill would add to the Criminal Code the offence of willfully promoting hatred against Indigenous peoples by condoning, denying, justifying or downplaying the harm caused by the residential school system in Canada.

“If the government is serious about reconciliation, then they need to protect survivors and their families from hate,” said Gazan. “The residential school system was a genocide—designed to wipe out Indigenous cultures, languages, families and heritage. To downplay, deny or justify it is cruel, harmful and hateful. This should have no place in Canada.”

Over a period of 150 years, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were kidnapped from their parents and forced into overcrowded residential schools, where they were subjected to physical, sexual, cultural, and psychological abuses. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission stated that the residential school system was a genocidal project that sought to eliminate the language and culture of Indigenous peoples.

In 2023, Gazan put forward a motion, passed unanimously by all parties, that recognized the Canadian residential school system as an act of genocide as articulated in Article II of the United Nations Convention on Genocide. It is the first genocide that has been recognized within Canadian borders.

“Survivors and their families deserve to heal from this intergenerational tragedy and be free from violent hate, and we cannot allow their safety and wellbeing to be put further at risk,” said Gazan. “All parliamentarians must stand firm against all forms of damaging hate speech, including the denial of the tragedy of residential schools in Canada.”