Rodney A. Clifton is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. His most recent book, with Mark DeWolf, is From Truth Comes Reconciliation: An Assessment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (Sutherland House Press, 2024). The book can be preordered from the publisher.Over the last several years a new and unsavoury sub-species of Canadian has been named by some of our elites: the “denier”. A detailed example of this charge comes from Stephanie Scott, Executive Director for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, who recently wrote: “Sadly...we see increased ugliness from those who deny our truths, experiences and oral histories as reality. Deniers will write their fringe blogs and substacks and leave their foul [emphasis added] comments on social media challenging the documented experiences of Indigenous People, particularly residential school Survivors...They will say: ‘It didn’t happen,’ ‘It wasn’t that bad,’ ‘Some good came out of residential schools,’ or the most repugnant, ‘Children never died in those institutions.’”I lived in an Anglican church-run Indian Residential School, Old Sun (honouring a famous Chief), on the Siksika (Blackfoot) First Nation in southern Alberta during the spring and summer of 1966. I was a student-intern working for the band, my salary was paid by the federal Department of Indian Affairs, and I had a room in the teachers’ wing in Old Sun.After that internship, I got a job for the 1966-1967 school year as the Senior Boys’ Supervisor in Stringer Hall, the Anglican-run hostel in Inuvik, NWT. There, I managed the daily activities of 85 mostly indigenous boys in three dorms, and I kept notes about what I saw and what the children said and did.During my time at Old Sun, I met a young Siksika woman, Elaine Ayoungman; we were married in 1968, and still are. Elaine attended Old Sun for 10 years, and so did her parents and most of her siblings. Over the years I heard many accounts of their experiences at Old Sun.Unbeknownst to most Canadians — though easily accessible to anyone — the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report includes evidence that the residential school experience was not negative for all students. As Volume 1, Part 2 states on page 140 (emphasis added): “It is important to recognize that many students, both in memoirs and in statements to the [commission], have spoken positively about the impact that specific teachers had on their lives.”For example, Eddie Dillon, a student in Stringer Hall when I was there, told the commission he was thankful for the education he received, specifically thanking his parents and the “government of Canada” for the educational opportunities that enriched his life. Similarly, on pages 98-99 of Volume 2, David Simailak stated that residential school in Churchill, Manitoba, “gave him...new opportunities,” and fondly recalled excelling in math and spelling competitions and travelling to Montreal for Expo ’67.When I asked my mother-in-law Nora what she learned in Old Sun, she replied, “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” Meaning, she was speaking English, enabling her to communicate with me and with other indigenous people who did not speak her mother tongue.This exchange occurred as we were driving back to Winnipeg from the 1993 National Native Convocation in which the Anglican Archbishop and Primate, Michael Peers, apologized to indigenous people who had attended the 35 schools and hostels managed by the Anglican church. There had been frank and open discussions at this convocation, but no one claimed that hundreds, let alone thousands, of children were missing — probably murdered — and buried in residential schoolyards.It seems reasonable to believe that if children were murdered in residential schools, that information would have been reported long before May 27, 2021, when Kamloops First Nation Chief Rosanne Casimir announced that a recent investigation had provided “confirmation of the remains of 215 children who were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.” The federal government sent almost $8 million to the band to investigate this claim but, so far, no excavations have even been initiated, let alone any human remains exhumed.Nevertheless, today the claim of missing and murdered residential schoolchildren is polarizing Canadian society, not only between the purveyors of the official narrative and the so-called “deniers,” but between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians, and within indigenous communities.What can be done about this seemingly intractable impasse?First, the federal government should appoint a blue-ribbon RCMP task force to investigate the accusations that children are missing and were probably murdered at residential schools. It must have the expertise, resources and legal authority to conduct a thorough forensic investigation in the schoolyards where residential schoolchildren are presumed to have been buried. It should not include band or church members because they have an inherent interest in the outcome of an investigation.Second, if the forensic investigation finds evidence of murdered children, and if school employees, whether non-indigenous or indigenous, are still alive, they should be criminally charged and prosecuted. The names of deceased employees, if it is shown that they abused or murdered children, should be published.Finally, a report of the investigation must be tabled in Parliament and distributed to Canadians, just like the TRC Report. For the sake of the thousands of Canadians — indigenous and non-indigenous — who worked in residential schools, for the sake of the churches that managed most of the schools, for the sake of indigenous Canadians and, indeed, for all Canadians, it is time to conduct a proper investigation of the claim that Canada’s Indian Residential Schools were genocidal, taught nothing of value, and murdered hundreds if not thousands of children. This is the only way to legitimately address the concerns of both the “denialists” and the supporters of the official narrative. It is the only way to ease the polarization of Canadian society on this especially important human and public policy issue.The original, full-length version of this article was recently published in C2C Journal.Rodney A. Clifton is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. His most recent book, with Mark DeWolf, is From Truth Comes Reconciliation: An Assessment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (Sutherland House Press, 2024). The book can be preordered from the publisher.
Rodney A. Clifton is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. His most recent book, with Mark DeWolf, is From Truth Comes Reconciliation: An Assessment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (Sutherland House Press, 2024). The book can be preordered from the publisher.Over the last several years a new and unsavoury sub-species of Canadian has been named by some of our elites: the “denier”. A detailed example of this charge comes from Stephanie Scott, Executive Director for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, who recently wrote: “Sadly...we see increased ugliness from those who deny our truths, experiences and oral histories as reality. Deniers will write their fringe blogs and substacks and leave their foul [emphasis added] comments on social media challenging the documented experiences of Indigenous People, particularly residential school Survivors...They will say: ‘It didn’t happen,’ ‘It wasn’t that bad,’ ‘Some good came out of residential schools,’ or the most repugnant, ‘Children never died in those institutions.’”I lived in an Anglican church-run Indian Residential School, Old Sun (honouring a famous Chief), on the Siksika (Blackfoot) First Nation in southern Alberta during the spring and summer of 1966. I was a student-intern working for the band, my salary was paid by the federal Department of Indian Affairs, and I had a room in the teachers’ wing in Old Sun.After that internship, I got a job for the 1966-1967 school year as the Senior Boys’ Supervisor in Stringer Hall, the Anglican-run hostel in Inuvik, NWT. There, I managed the daily activities of 85 mostly indigenous boys in three dorms, and I kept notes about what I saw and what the children said and did.During my time at Old Sun, I met a young Siksika woman, Elaine Ayoungman; we were married in 1968, and still are. Elaine attended Old Sun for 10 years, and so did her parents and most of her siblings. Over the years I heard many accounts of their experiences at Old Sun.Unbeknownst to most Canadians — though easily accessible to anyone — the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report includes evidence that the residential school experience was not negative for all students. As Volume 1, Part 2 states on page 140 (emphasis added): “It is important to recognize that many students, both in memoirs and in statements to the [commission], have spoken positively about the impact that specific teachers had on their lives.”For example, Eddie Dillon, a student in Stringer Hall when I was there, told the commission he was thankful for the education he received, specifically thanking his parents and the “government of Canada” for the educational opportunities that enriched his life. Similarly, on pages 98-99 of Volume 2, David Simailak stated that residential school in Churchill, Manitoba, “gave him...new opportunities,” and fondly recalled excelling in math and spelling competitions and travelling to Montreal for Expo ’67.When I asked my mother-in-law Nora what she learned in Old Sun, she replied, “I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” Meaning, she was speaking English, enabling her to communicate with me and with other indigenous people who did not speak her mother tongue.This exchange occurred as we were driving back to Winnipeg from the 1993 National Native Convocation in which the Anglican Archbishop and Primate, Michael Peers, apologized to indigenous people who had attended the 35 schools and hostels managed by the Anglican church. There had been frank and open discussions at this convocation, but no one claimed that hundreds, let alone thousands, of children were missing — probably murdered — and buried in residential schoolyards.It seems reasonable to believe that if children were murdered in residential schools, that information would have been reported long before May 27, 2021, when Kamloops First Nation Chief Rosanne Casimir announced that a recent investigation had provided “confirmation of the remains of 215 children who were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.” The federal government sent almost $8 million to the band to investigate this claim but, so far, no excavations have even been initiated, let alone any human remains exhumed.Nevertheless, today the claim of missing and murdered residential schoolchildren is polarizing Canadian society, not only between the purveyors of the official narrative and the so-called “deniers,” but between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians, and within indigenous communities.What can be done about this seemingly intractable impasse?First, the federal government should appoint a blue-ribbon RCMP task force to investigate the accusations that children are missing and were probably murdered at residential schools. It must have the expertise, resources and legal authority to conduct a thorough forensic investigation in the schoolyards where residential schoolchildren are presumed to have been buried. It should not include band or church members because they have an inherent interest in the outcome of an investigation.Second, if the forensic investigation finds evidence of murdered children, and if school employees, whether non-indigenous or indigenous, are still alive, they should be criminally charged and prosecuted. The names of deceased employees, if it is shown that they abused or murdered children, should be published.Finally, a report of the investigation must be tabled in Parliament and distributed to Canadians, just like the TRC Report. For the sake of the thousands of Canadians — indigenous and non-indigenous — who worked in residential schools, for the sake of the churches that managed most of the schools, for the sake of indigenous Canadians and, indeed, for all Canadians, it is time to conduct a proper investigation of the claim that Canada’s Indian Residential Schools were genocidal, taught nothing of value, and murdered hundreds if not thousands of children. This is the only way to legitimately address the concerns of both the “denialists” and the supporters of the official narrative. It is the only way to ease the polarization of Canadian society on this especially important human and public policy issue.The original, full-length version of this article was recently published in C2C Journal.Rodney A. Clifton is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. His most recent book, with Mark DeWolf, is From Truth Comes Reconciliation: An Assessment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report (Sutherland House Press, 2024). The book can be preordered from the publisher.
