The proliferation of Ground Penetrating Radar studies at former residential school cemeteries quickly mushroomed in the media from being ‘disturbances,’ to ‘unmarked graves,’ to ‘mass graves,’ to ‘genocide.’.The social contagion of these horrific claims, along with Canada’s national propensity to say we are ‘sorry,’ led to the House of Commons unanimously voting to declare Indian Residential Schools an act of genocide on Oct. 27, 2022..In March 2023, Canada had a visit from José Francisco Calí Tzay, the UN Special Rapporteur on Rights of Indigenous People, who came to investigate claims of genocide. He will issue a report in September..Was there a genocide? Or is this a clever geopolitical manipulation of mass media — and if so, to what end? Why do aboriginal people insist there are unmarked graves and missing members of the family?.It was journalist Terry Glavin whose years of international boots-on-the-ground reporting eye caught the clever switch China performed at the UN due to this ghastly ‘revelation’ about Canada. Canada and several other nations spent three years developing a case to have China investigated for genocide. This was about to go to vote at the UN, when the Canadian Indian Residential School graveyard stories broke. That pre-empted the UN vote against China..It was also Glavin who bravely faced the cancel culture crowd to point out tuberculosis was the main cause of death at residential schools and reserves. Indeed, it was so across Canada in all societal strata — at least until the 1950’s when TB vaccines and medicines became available..But there are thousands of other unmarked or abandoned indigenous graves — on reserve..The 1909 Bryce report is often cited as evidence that residential schools were rife with tuberculosis, but a closer analysis of the Bryce report, done by Michelle Robinson’s research in her thesis Dying to Learn, shows the astounding magnitude of death back home, on reserves..“During their tour of the schools, the doctors gathered information on the families of the pupils. More specifically, they inquired about the status of the pupils' parents and siblings. Bryce found only 60% of the aboriginal children's fathers and 70% of their mothers were still living….The numbers compiled on the children in the pupils' families were no better. He found the average number of children born in the pupils' families was 3.7, but the average number of children still living in 1909 was 2.16. Bryce's numbers revealed 33.13% of children in the families of the pupils in the six boarding schools were dead. The percentage of children deceased in the families of the pupils attending Sarcee C.E. was 26%. For the pupils attending Peigan C.E. and Blood R.C., 27% of the children in their families were no longer living. Also deceased were 30% of the children in the families of pupils attending Blackfoot R.C. and 41% of the children in the families of the pupils attending Peigan R.C. Most alarming was the percentage of children dead in the families of the pupils attending Blood C.E.: 49%..It's important to underline it's not accurate to assume all these children died in Indian residential schools. These percentages would have included all children of all ages in the families. In addition to the children who died while attending a residential school, the percentages on mortality would have also included children who never attended a residential school, children who died before even reaching school age, and children who died after their discharge from a residential school.”.Thus, the residential schools undoubtedly became "home" to many of these orphans, given a level of care and nurture they couldn't possibly have received anywhere else..As George Jasper Wherrett writes in his book The Miracle of the Empty Beds; A History of Tuberculosis in Canada: “... in 1908 it was true ‘Every time the clock struck the house in the daytime, one Canadian died from tuberculosis, and every time it struck the hour during the night, two Canadians died of the same disease.’”.China exploited Canada’s ignorance of its own history to its benefit; exploited the very real complicated grief of generational loss which burdens the aboriginal people of Canada..With recent concerning revelations of China’s interference in Canadian affairs, this clever geopolitical ploy at the UN deserves special attention. The angst and rage it ignited, especially in the hearts of young aboriginal people in Canada who recently blocked off downtown Winnipeg chanting “No Pride in Genocide” following the discovery of Linda Beardy’s body in a landfill, threatens the balkanization of this country, potentially dissolving into a repeat of the 2020 Shut Down Canada protests or worse..Yet the truth lies in graveyards and dull history books, lost in time and never consulted by mainstream media or elected officials..Michelle Stirling researched, wrote, and co-produced 41 half-hour historical shows about Southern Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Hugh Dempsey, then curator of the Glenbow Museum. She also researched and wrote a six-hour mini-series (unproduced) about the North West Mounted Police and their trek west to stop the genocide of the Blackfoot Nation by whiskey traders. Stirling is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists and the AAAS.
