Chiefs from across the country have unanimously approved an emergency resolution calling on the federal government to make Indian Residential School denialism a criminal offence under Canada’s hate speech laws.
The resolution was passed Wednesday during the Assembly of First Nations Annual General Assembly in Ottawa and comes just weeks after the Senate rejected an amendment to Bill C-9 that would have explicitly recognized residential school denialism as a criminal offence.
The amendment had previously been approved by the Senate Human Rights Committee before being defeated in June.
The emergency resolution states that residential school denialism attacks the documented experiences and trauma of Survivors and their families.
The resolution also calls for the creation of a complaints commission to address denialism and hate speech directed at residential school Survivors, their families and First Nations communities.
Chiefs argue Canada has an obligation to better protect Indigenous people from growing anti-Indigenous hate, both online and in person.
AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said the Senate’s rejection of the amendment was “regressive and a setback for Survivors and for reconciliation,” adding that Canada must never allow the history and legacy of residential schools to be forgotten.
In approving the resolution, Chiefs in Assembly are urging the federal government to work with First Nations on new legislation that would formally recognize Indian Residential School denialism as hate speech and make it a criminal offence.