On June 1, the Senate Human Rights Committee passed an amendment to Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act, that would make it a criminal offence to “wilfully promote hatred” by “downplaying” or “justifying” the Indian Residential School system.
While the full Senate narrowly rejected the amendment on June 3, the fact that such a draconian measure came dangerously close to becoming law — one that would have carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison — should deeply concern every Canadian who values free speech.
Canada already has robust hate speech laws, after all. Section 319 of the Criminal Code makes the wilful promotion of hatred illegal. Importantly, this law includes defences for truth, religious belief, and public interest.
What is the point, then, of attempting to add a new hate speech law that carries with it vague and subjective terms like “downplaying” and “justifying” residential schools? Unlike section 319 of the Criminal Code, the Bill C-9 amendment contained no truth defence.
This amendment, perhaps not coincidentally, came against the backdrop of growing recognition that the mass hysteria-inducing claim from 2021 — that 215 children’s bodies were found buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School — might be completely false.
The Globe and Mail has backpedalled on its original narrative, stating “remains of 215 children found at former Kamloops, B.C. residential school,” last week, admitting that no human remains have been excavated at Kamloops and that the “discovery” was based solely on ground penetrating radar anomalies. So, has the CBC walked back its original claim that graves were “found” to “potential unmarked graves.”
Even Sarah Rogers, the US State Department’s Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy, chimed in by publicly praising the Globe and Mail for their admission, five years after their initial announcement. “In 2021, Canadian media and institutions basically hallucinated the discovery of 215 children’s bodies in a mass grave near a former Catholic residential school,” she said, while adding that this contributed to “a wave of church arsons.”
The National Post has gone further, noting that the “anomalies” in Kamloops might actually be remnants of an old septic pipe system installed in the 1920s, though author Tristin Hopper did acknowledge that we will never know the truth until an excavation is actually done.
To this end, it’s worth noting that in 2023, an excavation was done at a former residential school site in Manitoba after the same radar technology used in Kamloops detected “anomalies” believed to be bodies, and no human remains were found. (Would this have been considered “downplaying” residential schools?)
Proponents of criminalizing “residential school denialism” can’t seem to handle the denial of these extremely serious allegations or “discoveries.”
NDP MP Leah Gazan has been one of the strongest advocates for criminalizing such. She has repeatedly described the residential schools as a “genocide” and even compared them to the Holocaust, where six million Jews were murdered. Gazan has also referred to the Kamloops announcement as the “tragic discovery of hundreds of unmarked children’s graves.” In 2024, she introduced an (unsuccessful) private member’s bill aimed at criminalizing “residential school denialism.” She said at the time: “There is a difference between free speech and inciting hate. Residential school denialism is inciting hate, full stop.”
Notice the sleight of hand taking place: there was indeed horrific abuse and neglect at some of these schools between 1883 and 1996, but the “mass graves” claim remains entirely unsubstantiated. And the label of “genocide” that Gazan regularly throws around is highly debatable, if not absurd. Yet anytime someone asks “where are the bodies?” they are accused of “residential school denialism,” as if they are denying there was anything bad that happened at these schools at all.
The longer we go without any confirmed bodies or any “genocide” actually having taken place, the more embarrassing it becomes for some and infuriating for others. It seems this Senate Committee attempted to deal with this awkward situation by criminalizing speech that acknowledges it.
Would “downplaying” residential schools include sharing old photographs of indigenous students smiling ear-to-ear while in class or playing hockey for their school? Would it criminalize quoting former students like Cree playwright Tomson Highway, who said, “Nine of the happiest years of my life I spent at that school?”
Or would pointing out that many indigenous parents and leaders actively requested these schools during treaty negotiations count as “justifying” them? Historical records clearly show that some communities saw the schools as a way to give their children a chance in a rapidly changing world.
Canadians are perfectly capable of holding nuanced views: acknowledging real suffering that took place at these schools while also recognizing the “mass graves” narrative is completely unsubstantiated, the schools may have been well-intentioned, and there were some positive individual experiences.
Free speech exists precisely so that citizens can debate difficult historical questions without fear of the state. Truth is not advanced by jailing dissenters but through open inquiry, evidence, and rigorous debate.
The Senate’s attempt to criminalize speech is an insult to the intelligence and maturity of Canadians and censorship disguised as compassion.
Mike Campbell, M.Ed., is Director of Research and Education of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.
