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How to counter residential school denialism
Episode 853

How to counter residential school denialism

As awful as Canada's legacy of residential schools is, there are some in this country who don't want to believe it. In recent months, there's been a rise in attempts to use linguistic missteps on the part of journalists or Indigenous leaders to "expose" what minimizers claim is a lack of proof that thousands of children died at these schools. The case hinges on the difference between terms like "anomalies", "unmarked graves" and "remains" used when sites are explored with ground-penetrating radar. So how do the searches at the school sites work? What, precisely, has been found there? And if we know there are remains in the ground, why haven't more of them been exhumed? GUEST: Niigaan Sinclair, professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba

The Big Story

July 4, 202323m 54s

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Show Notes

As awful as Canada's legacy of residential schools is, there are some in this country who don't want to believe it. In recent months, there's been a rise in attempts to use linguistic missteps on the part of journalists or Indigenous leaders to "expose" what minimizers claim is a lack of proof that thousands of children died at these schools.

The case hinges on the difference between terms like "anomalies", "unmarked graves" and "remains" used when sites are explored with ground-penetrating radar. So how do the searches at the school sites work? What, precisely, has been found there? And if we know there are remains in the ground, why haven't more of them been exhumed? 

GUEST: Niigaan Sinclair, professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba

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