‘Infuriating’: Indigenous activist says comments from curriculum advisor are ‘intentional hate’

CALGARY – A Indigenous activist says comments from a UCP curriculum advisor on residential schools are “clear, intentional hate” aimed at Canada’s First Nations communities.

Chris Champion wrote in the Dorchester Review Thursday that “natural compassion should not be distorted into a big lie narrative that ‘we’ committed genocide or that Canadians are complicit in their own version of the holocaust.”

Tweets posted by the publication claimed the children had an “absolute blast” at residential schools.

READ MORE: Alberta UCP curriculum advisor denies Kamloops burial site part of Indigenous genocide

Michelle Robinson says this level of hatred is something Indigenous people deal with daily–and many Canadians are unaware of how they are guilty of perpetuating hate.

“The Indigenous community, unfortunately, has been gaslit and has been dealing with people who denied the impacts of Indian Residental Schools until recently–until about 215 voices spoke from the grave,” she said.

“It’s infuriating.”

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She says claims that kids had “a blast” at these schools come from photos that school leaders doctored to hide the atrocities.

“Elders told us about being forced to, you know, having nice clothes for a single day, pose for nice pictures, and then having to give those clothes back and going back to the regular scrappy clothes they had. And that was documented in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).”

She says Champion and the paper that published his comments are playing off the fact that a lot of non-Indigenous Canadians haven’t read the TRC report.

Alberta gov’t ‘committed to giving kids poor education’, says Robinson

Robinson says the comments from the curriculum advisor–and a lack of action from Premier Jason Kenney or Education Minister Adriana LaGrange on the K-6 draft–show that the province doesn’t actually care about Alberta kids or their education.

“Obviously, this curriculum is ridiculous,” she said.

“The Alberta government in charge at the moment is so committed to our Albertan children and youth being given such a poor education–that really is a reflection of them.”

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LaGrange’s office said Thursday evening Champion’s comments were harmful but didn’t say much else.

“To make light of the horrors children faced in residential schools is not only appalling, it is harmful to survivors and their families, and we denounce such actions categorically,” said a statement from LaGrange’s press secretary.

The premier has not made any comments thus far.

Kenney and his UCP government have continually been among those denying Indigenous issues, says Robinson.

“I don’t believe [Kenney] has any skin in the game to care about Indigenous issues, to care about this–he just has repeatedly shown us he doesn’t care,” she said.

“Even putting that fellow in charge of the curriculum to begin with and claiming to sever ties–I mean, we have never seen substantial movement, we’ve never seen action plans from this government doing anything to help Indigenous voices.”

Robinson says wounds can’t heal when there is a government in power that is seemingly trying to provoke harm.

“We’ve seen [Kenney] and his government do more to so-called ‘own the Liberals’ than actually do the work of reconciliation.”

She says there is information about residential schools that is age-appropriate for kids from kindergarten to grade six.

-with files from Tara Overholt