The federal government’s hate speech legislation “hadn’t done the legislative analysis” on whether residential school denialism should be considered as such, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty said on Thursday.
Bill C-9, known as the Combatting Hate Act, received royal assent in June and was aimed at combating antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate against marginalized groups and protecting places of worship from acts of violence.
Alty was speaking at the Assembly of First Nations on Thursday following calls on Wednesday from chiefs to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech when she was asked why residential school denialism wasn’t included in the bill.
“For Bill C-9, what the government was working to address was the increase in violence in and around churches, synagogues, mosques,” Alty said.
However, she added that residential school denialism was something the government needed to address.
“Residential school denialism is very important and something we have to address. However, the bill hadn’t done the legislative analysis,” she said.
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Work was “underway” at the federal level to address residential school denialism.
“There was a commitment of $5 million to address residential school denialism, so that work is underway,” she said, but did not give any indication of federal plans to add residential school denialism as hate speech.
First Nations chiefs passed an emergency resolution Wednesday calling on the federal government to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech.
“Truth is not optional and reconciliation cannot exist without truth,” said Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation.
“We must honour the survivors, and we must honour every child who never came home.”
Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Linda Debassige said community members deal with the effects of residential school denialism every day and that it harms survivors and their descendants.
“Our survivors, both here today and those who have passed on, have kept the truth alive for generations. Now, hate speech needs to be incorporated into law to ensure denialism will no longer prey upon survivors, their families or our people across this country,” she said.
“We stand united across this country to ensure that we will continue to honour our ancestors, our survivors, and to continue to push this until this is formally recognized in the Criminal Code of Canada.”
Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty addressed the chiefs Wednesday evening, highlighting what she called progress toward closing the infrastructure gap in First Nations communities.
“We want to continue working together alongside First Nations. We want to ensure that in implementation we are meeting the needs that you have identified,” she said.
“There’s truly a roadmap — one that’s going to help us shape how we move forward together, and often how we can get out of the way for community to do that work.”
–with files from The Canadian Press
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