WARNING: This story contains details of experiences in residential schools.
The conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is standing next to a British Columbia candidate as calls to be eliminated by the previous comments he made about the history of Canada’s residential schools.
Pailievre said at a press conference in Osoyoos, BC, on Saturday that accusations about the North Island-Powell Aaron Gunn river candidate are “wrong information.”
He said that Gunn “has not denied the impact of residential schools” and instead wants to condemn the system sponsored by the government that eliminated more than 150,000 indigenous children of their families, and the last institution closed in 1996.
Pailievre said that Gunn wants to “build stronger associations with people from the first nations to unlock our resources so that we can produce incredible checks and payment opportunities” for indigenous communities in BC.
In videos and statements published on social networks in 2019 and 2021, Gunn said that the Canadian residential school system did not constitute genocide and that schools are “very modern.”
One of Gunn’s publications in X, previously known as Twitter, also stated that “indigenous bands asked” residential schools. ”
Numerous leaders and groups of the first nations, As well as municipal politicians in BC, they have condemned Gunn’s comments and requested their removal, including the Union of Bigs Indians BC and the Leadership Council of the first BC nations.
Pailievre said that conservatives are the only part that offers a “brilliant future” for the first nations by stimulating the development of resources that will bring money and opportunities to the communities.
The conservative leader said it would bring a “charge of resources from the first nations”, allowing companies to pay taxes directly to communities so that they can have “incredible prosperity.”
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which had the task of investigating the residential school system, discovered that institutions were full of abuse, with children separated from their families and forbidden to visit their loved ones.
He concluded that schools were intended for cultural genocide, saying that they were a “systematic attempt to destroy aboriginal cultures and languages and assimilate aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as different peoples.”
The House of Commons unanimously approved a motion in 2022 recognizing Canada’s residential schools as genocide. The motion was approved after Pope Francis described residential schools as such after his visit to Canada in July 2022.
Gunn issued a statement about X on Thursday saying that “it has always been firm in recognizing the really horrible events that occurred in residential schools, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is simply false.”
I would like to clarify what has been said today.
I have always been firm in recognizing the truly horrible events that occurred in residential schools, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is simply false.
I have never hesitated to condemn these abuse institutions, where …
At the campaign stop in Osoyoos, Pailievre also promised to cut the bureaucratic bureaucracy in 25 percent in two years, part of its plan for a law “two by one” that requires that two regulations be repealed for each new one that is introduced.
He said the plan would also require that for each dollar in new administrative costs, two dollars should be reduced in another place to relieve the load.
A national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis line is available in 1-866-925-4419 for emotional services and crisis reference for survivors and those affected.
Mental health advice and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness Direct Line at 1-855-242-3310 or By online chat.
