Commentary
The case of Jim McMurtry is now well known to Canadians. He is the Abbotsford schoolteacher who told his class the truth about the claim that 215 Indigenous students had been killed and secretly buried at Kamloops Indian Residential School—and was fired for it. McMurtry stated that any students who died at the school likely succumbed to natural causes, mainly tuberculosis. His students, who had heard wild stories about children tortured by priests and left in the snow to die, were outraged and complained. Consequently, McMurtry was promptly removed from the classroom and placed on indefinite leave, eventually leading to his termination.
Conrad Black and Barbara Kay have commented on the injustice of McMurtry’s firing. However, one event that has largely escaped comment is the parliamentary motion passed on Oct. 27, 2022, equating residential schools with genocide. This motion was based on the Kamloops claim of 215 sinister deaths and secret burials, which McMurtry refused to accept as fact. By passing this motion without study or debate, Parliament gave the school board permission to fire McMurtry. It also sends a signal to international human rights abusers, like communist China, that Canada will not criticize them for their atrocious treatment of the Uyghurs or Tibetans.
McMurtry told his students the truth: students who died at the school mainly died of disease, likely tuberculosis. A quick check of the death certificates on the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation list of the 51 children who died at the school proves this. They died of disease, a few as a result of accidents, some died at home, and some died at a hospital. Most were buried on their home reserves. There is no credible evidence that any residential school student died under sinister circumstances, went missing and was never found, or was buried secretly.
Parliament must reconsider their motion. They have made a serious error. Evidence must be presented, and the claims about murder and secret burials at residential schools must be thoroughly examined. It was a bungled attempt at education, not genocide. MP Leah Gazan, with the approval of Indigenous Affairs Minister Marc Miller, wants legislation that criminalizes any questioning of the secret burial stories, calling it “denialism.” This must be prevented in order to protect the truth.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.