Criminalize residential school denialism in Canada, survivors say [Video]

NDP member of Parliament Leah Gazan, second from right, is joined by Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray, right, and Indian Residential School survivors during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 30, 2024. They are calling on the Government of Canada to recognize residential school denialism as inciting hate in the Criminal Code following the delivery of the final report of the Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites Associated with Indian Residential Schools. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Residential school survivors are calling on Canada to criminalize residential school denialism, days after the release of a report about unmarked graves and burial sites associated with the institutions.

Doug George, a survivor of the Mohawk Institute, says Canadians need to acknowledge the schools’ place in history and to ensure the children who died are not silenced.

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to …