Some say it's time for Canada to criminalize residential school denialism
Some say it's time for Canada to criminalize residential school denialism
OTTAWA — As a young child, Dennis Saddleman's mother always ensured he knew how much she loved him, gave him kisses on his forehead and told him how beautiful he was.
It makes me very uncomfortable to make speech and holding opinions (whether factual or not) illegal.
It sets a dangerous precedent and is a double edged sword. What if we’d declared criticizing internment camps or the 60’s scoop as hateful prejudice against Canada? What if the next government makes speaking against oil illegal?
Education and acknowledgement is the answer. We need to continue making everything about residential schools public. It should be easy to see evidence of their practices, know who ran them, how many children died and where they’re buried, etc. It should be obvious this happened and was awful.
This slope is not slippery at all. Denying holocaust has been a crime since
20021994 in Germany and yet Germany had no issues with upkeeping free speech in thetwothree decades since.edit: oops it's actually older than I thought
Censorship should make us uncomfortable for all those reasons, but I think history has shown hate speech can't be beaten with just reason. Whether this specific proposal is worth the precedent is another question on top of that, though.
My mother was abused in a residential school. If there were anyone still alive that had anything to do with this I would gladly watch them set on fire... I am beginning to feel the same way about people who deny this happened.
Nah, take a page from the Germans and make it a mandatory part of the curriculum of every school board, across every province, build memorials and fund films and cultural programs to institutionalize the memory. It will take 10 years but it will work better than any criminalization.EDIT: See comment below. Also, TIL: Holocaust Denial is criminal in Canada, too.
You say that like holocaust denialism isn't actually also a crime in Germany.
They've done both.
Ah, then I'm wrong.
We need less criminalization of speech, not more.
I’d do better with just making such people laughing stocks and pariahs. I feel like criminalizing the behaviour gives it an aura of legitimacy and power it doesn’t deserve.
Paradox of intolerance to some extent. Residential school denialism in politics and media is still negatively impacting public perception of indigenous people.
The US isn't doing so hot by just making the fascists "a laughing stock". More severe consequences are needed. However, there's MUCH more misinformation they need to target than just this.
Given the way the political climate is going, in Canada, criminalizing residential school discussion at all is more likely.