The Stories We Tell and the Consequences that Ensue
The 215 "potential graves" narrative and the damage it's done to real reconciliation.
There's a story that's been making the rounds for the last five years or so in Canada. It's a tale that's come to define the history of our great nation, and not in a good way. This story has been propagated by First Nations leaders and our political class and repeated ad nauseum and without much critical thought by millions of Canadians. It goes something like this:
During the years of the Indian residential school system in Canada, there was a secret pact between the priests and the nuns (who ran the schools), and the government (who funded the schools) to steal indigenous children and then murder these innocent ones and have their classmates bury their corpses by night in unmarked graves all over the country. This happened right under the noses of the indigenous inhabitants of the reserves, some of whom were actually working at the schools. No one made a peep about any of this for decades but now thanks to the “discovery" of 215 “potential grave sites" at the old Kamloops Residential School and a mysterious indigenous “knowing,” we have been informed and put on notice that this is precisely what was going on behind the scenes for years.
As a result of this newly acquired knowledge (even though there is precisely zero bits of physical evidence to back any of this up) as a good and righteous Canadian, you are simply to believe this unquestioningly.
When confronted with a story like this in the form of news reports, activist rants, or just everyday interactions with ordinary people, a polite and considerate individual basically has three options for a response:
Agree wholeheartedly and condemn the wicked institutions that would unleash such evil upon an innocent child;
Ask clarifying questions like: how many bodies have they found, exactly? Or: what happened to the tens of millions of dollars that was transferred to the reserve for excavation? You know, reasonable queries; or
Remain silent.
Since option #3 basically defaults to option #1, you can probably guess which hill I've chosen to die on.
The latest chapter in this grisly tale in which we currently dwell (which may be called the Decade of the Graves, because let's face it - it's nowhere near over) has seen little to no movement on the ever-elusive truth and reconciliation front. If anything, it seems we've gone backwards. I'm just spit-balling here, but I wonder if calling Canadians haters and deniers every time they ask a question about this has got anything to do with it. Just throwing that out there…
Contrary to what we're constantly told, this is not a situation where one needs to pick a side. This isn't an us versus them scenario, even though that's exactly what it's being framed as. The way this has been played by the media, the activists and many of our leaders (indigenous and otherwise) is nothing short of dishonest and underhanded. The real issues that we could actually do something about (better indigenous health care, clean drinking water on reserves, etc.) are not being dealt with because these other issues that we really can't do much about always take precedence. The 215 graves thing which has taken on a life of it's own is only one example, but it's the most salient and glaring one.
Oh, and as I alluded to earlier, if you do ask any questions, or the wrong kinds of questions (see response #2) you have now outed yourself as a residential school denier, which is basically on par with being a Holocaust denier, except that in this case you don't actually have to deny anything.
So the longer this goes on, the less people are inclined to believe it, and the reason they don't believe it is simply because it's unbelievable. The fault for this lies not in the white man, nor the Conservatives, nor the alt-right, but in those who keep propagating and promoting this nonsense, namely many of the indigenous chiefs and our political leaders - people who have easy access to whatever facts and information they need to form a proper opinion and yet ignore it - the very definition of ignorance.
My personal opinion is that this issue has destroyed credibility and set real reconciliation back years. It has poisoned everything. Heads need to roll because of this and until that happens, I don't see how this credibility is ever going to be regained. The more Canadians sit back and say nothing, and the longer this goes on, the worse it's going to get. And here's another hard truth: just because most people aren't saying what I'm saying and in the way I'm saying it, doesn't mean they're not thinking it. So what do we do with them - just hope they'll eventually forget about it? Well, I don't think they will.
I've been accused of insensitivity on this issue (and of course the standard hate and denialism, but that's almost meaningless at this point) and in some ways I am insensitive to it, at least in the way that one who lives by a busy highway eventually ceases to hear the constant traffic.
I've also been criticized for taking such a hard stance, but the reason I do is not because I'm trying to be an asshole, but because I really want to see this resolved. I have no ill will toward anyone from the indigenous community - most of them are victims of their own poor leadership, as are the rest of us. And that's where the real fault lies: their leadership, and the broader provincial and federal leadership. Our leaders have failed us in this responsibility, and at this point it seems they're purposely failing us.
In March of this year the remains of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris from Long Plain First Nation were found in a Winnipeg landfill. One of the first promises of our Premier, Wab Kinew upon his election in 2023 was to make sure these landfill searches were carried out, as there was concern that the previous Conservative government would conveniently forget about it. I will readily admit that I was extremely skeptical at the time and I probably said some insensitive things about it as well. As a result I have been the recent recipient of some legit ball-busting by at least one family member. Fair enough. I can accept that, because I was wrong. Those women were actually there and I'm so glad they looked even though many people thought it was a waste of time and money. But this goes right back to the whole reason why this is so important. That reason is this: after the last several years and the multitude of claims made of schoolyard graves, which were proven false every time any actual digging was involved, why would I believe a claim like that? Why would anyone? Just to be polite? To not offend? Is that really what is’s come to?
I would genuinely love to be able to turn on the news and actually believe these people when they make a claim, but at this point I just can't, and that's not my fault.
So, back to Kamloops - why shouldn't these people have to offer some sort of proof for these wild claims? I mean, the bodies are either there or they're not. In what world should the rest of us simply take them at their word when every bit of actual evidence says they're wrong? Why should anyone have to be silent simply to avoid offending someone? If there are kids buried in Kamloops, then stick a shovel in the ground and let's get to the bottom of it, otherwise drop the charade and let's get on with real reconciliation.
Or are indigenous people simply too fragile to handle questions like that? I don't think they are at all, but maybe that's just me. Our government appears to have taken the position that indigenous Canadians are indeed too fragile to be challenged on these claims and I imagine that suits the government’s agenda very nicely because as long as you're dealing with someone you perceive to be weaker, it keeps you in the driver's seat. One can only hope that the indigenous people will eventually tire of the lies they're being fed by this government and their own leaders and make it very evident that they're not the weak and fragile victims they've been painted as. That will do more for reconciliation than anything to date.
Every question that I've asked here is an honest attempt to understand how to come to grips with this. I'm relatively sure that indigenous people are not too fragile to handle questions like this. If these questions remain unanswered, then that's only because someone doesn't want to answer them, and the reason for that can only be that they don't want us to know the answers. If that's the case then we may as well burn the whole truth and reconciliation thing to the ground because it's already dead anyway.
