On August 12, 2024, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) sent out a letter to B.C. municipalities, with five being singled out (Powell River, Sechelt, Quesnel, West Vancouver and Kamloops). The letter attached one of UBCIC’s resolutions, made on June 10-11, 2024, about the “Rejection of Residential School Racist Denialism”.
On the Agenda for the Powell River City Council meeting for September 12, 2024 is a “Recommendation” proposed in “New Business” by Councillor Rob Southcott. In this, Councillor Southcott recommends that “Council acknowledge and support the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Council Resolution 2024-33” provided above.
If councillors support Councillor Southcott’s recommendation, do they agree with the statements of the UBCIC’s Resolution 2024-33? If so, they should be able to answer the following nine questions.
- Have the “likely remains of children who were forced to attend former Residential Schools across Canada in unmarked graves…provided evidence of state-sanctioned genocide”? How can finding “likely remains” be “evidence of state-sanctioned genocide”?
2. Does the book Grave Error “[question the] very existence [of residential schools] and well-documented harms against indigenous peoples”? How does its distribution “perpetuate racist attitudes that uphold white supremacy…”?
3. Are the arguments in Grave Error similar to Holocaust denialism? How does Grave Error perpetuate stereotypes and hateful beliefs?
4. Were 150,000 children “forced to attend Residential Schools”? Who are the “missing children” in “unmarked graves”?
5. Should “immediate funding” be provided to “protect the remains of children found buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential School”? What are the “remains of children found buried” that need “funding” so that they can be “protected”?
6. What are the “ongoing recoveries of missing and unidentified Indigenous children at former Residential School sites”?
7. What is the “racist misinformation put forward by the authors of Grave Error” that is being “perpetuated by members of the public and elected officials”?
8. How have the “actions of those involved with the production and distribution of the book Grave Error” indicated “racist denialism” and the “unwillingness to accept historical fact and the work of experts”?
9. Who are the “missing children” that “sustainable long-term funding” is needed to “identify”? What are the “racist” elements of what is referred to as “Residential School racist denialism”?
It is astonishing how quick municipal councils are to endorse absurd claims. It is also frightening to watch the zeal with which councilors dismiss sources of information, that if considered, could help a true reconciliation between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Just to learn that a District of Sechelt Councilor is comparing Mein Kampf to Grave Error indicates the depth to which ignorance is being promoted. How can the desire of the Indigenous people of Canada to improve their lot be served by Indigenous leadership that perpetuates misinformation? There is a vital need for the two sides to approach each other with open minds so that the country can move past the grievance narratives that are stifling reconciliation.
Larry Dyke
North Vancouver
Denialism
According to the Tla’amin Hegus, in his demand that the city of Powell River change its name;
“We are extremely concerned with the idea to have a referendum as a means to determine whether
the name of Powell River should be changed. A referendum has no place in this process. Having the
dominant culture decide whether the harms done to Tla’amin people and our rights outweigh their
attachment to colonialism is a classic strategy to maintain the status quo. This is not reconciliation
– it is doubling down on the colonial playbook. The correct approach for this process is to work
collaboratively government to government, with meaningful community engagement.
Hegus John Hackett.” (Letter to the city of Powell River, June 21, 2021.)
The Tla’amin people achieved Nationhood in 2016. They are a nation within the nation of Canada. They obviously don’t believe in democracy when they say that their 5% of the population should rule over 95% of the people of Powell River or British Columbia or Canada. The first question is, what right do they have to tell the people of Powell River that they MUST change their name? We would laugh if the US or China did the same.
When a Concerned Citizen of Powell River, Diane Sparks offered the book, Grave Error to every councillor on the Powell River city council, the only one who accepted was Mayor Woznow. Councillor Jim Palm refused because he already had his own copy. The other five councillors refused the free gift.
September 12, 2024, Councillor Southcott brought forward a motion to accept the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs Resolution 2024-33. In his reason for the motion, he spoke at length about the value of “listening” to others’ points of view. In tying his horse to that wagon, he presents several possibilities.
One possibility is that they don’t agree with the eighteen very learned authors whose opinions and documented facts that are presented in the book. This one is not likely because during the question and answer period, at the end of the council meeting, Dr. Widowson asked if any of them had read the book, Grave Error; none of the five replied in the affirmative. The look on their faces and body language told it all. It reminded me of a child testing their parents’ authority.
Another possibility is that they did read the book but because of the pathetically ridiculous actions of the Quesnel City Council against the Mayor and his wife, our councillors were too afraid to admit reading Grave Error. Are they afraid of retaliation as others in our city have faced?
I believe that the most likely reason is that these five councillors are so “woke” (Sorry to use such a dirty word.) that their selective hearing doesn’t allow them to hear the voices of others. Is that not another form of denialism? Doesn’t that show that these five councillors are irredeemably biased? I believe that they are a disgrace to democracy. They all refuse to recuse themselves from the Name Change debate.
This is an example of how these five councillors have acted for the last two years. This is not something that the voters of Powell River will soon forget. There is no place for Reconciliation in this neck of the woods.