First Nations leader Says BC Conservative Candidate’s Residential School Postings are ‘Outrageous, Disgusting and Very, Very Sad’

Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of residential schools which some readers may find upsetting. Residential school survivors and those affected who are seeking support are encouraged to contact the Hope for Wellness Helpline or call the 24 hour National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.

One of John Rustad’s BC Conservative candidates was posting content on social media that promoted “residential school denialism” and “historical revisionism,” says a senior First Nations leader in British Columbia.

“I find it to be outrageous, disgusting and very, very sad that there are people out there that harbour those deep racist views in a country that has such enormous potential in terms of social harmony as Canada,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, told PressProgress.

Sheldon Clare, the BC Conservative candidate in Prince George–North Cariboo, is outspoken about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, previously advocating “challenging the myths” of the Commission’s findings and suggesting residential schools actually created “opportunities” for Indigenous children.

Clare, the former President of a controversial group called the National Firearms Association of Canada, has spent the last few years teaching history at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, BC.

In 2022, Clare shared an article on Facebook criticizing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission put out by a self-described “semi-academic” history journal called the Dorchester Review.

Dorchester Review (Twitter)

The Dorchester Review is the brainchild of Chris Champion, a controversial historian who previously faced a public backlash over “reprehensible and disgusting” residential school tweets while he was working to overhaul Alberta’s social studies curriculum for Jason Kenney’s government.

The Dorchester Review article shared by Clare disputes the number of Indigenous children who were forced into residential schools and casts doubt on “intergenerational trauma.” It also accuses Commissioner Murray Sinclair of promoting “serious misconceptions about the residential school system” and attempts to “call into question the Commission’s objectivity.”

“It’s worth examining the facts and challenging the myths around this complex issue,” Clare wrote in a Facebook post promoting the Dorchester Review article.

Sheldon Clare (Facebook)

Grand Chief Phillip says “Murray Sinclair is an amazing individual,” in contrast to Clare and the Dorchester Review, whom he says are “ignorant” and have “no idea of what they’re writing about.”

“Our people were horribly abused in the residential schools and it has been the subject of countless studies and reports and commissions and things of that nature.”

“The Truth and Reconciliation Commission itself travelled the entire country taking first-hand testimony from victims of the residential schools. I attended some of those sessions and it was just absolutely heart-breaking to hear the testimony from people who were abused.”

In the comments section of another post sharing data on 19th century child mortality rates to question the deadly abuse in residential schools, Clare suggested residential schools offered benefits, as well.

“It is also perfectly true that many students who attended these schools gained opportunities that would have otherwise remained unavailable,” Clare wrote. “I well remember one student telling me that the nuns had taught her well when I complimented her on a perfect score on my grammar test.”

Sheldon Clare (Facebook)

In another posting, Clare appeared to dispute the Truth and Reconcilation Commission’s description of the Canadian government’s residential school system as part of a broader policy of “cultural genocide.”

“I am tired of seeing high infant mortality to to TB and smallpox, etc. described as genocide,” Clare wrote.

Clare also complained that “no critical analysis” is permitted on this subject otherwise “one is descended upon by the woke.”

Sheldon Clare (Facebook)

“The residential school system was designed to deliberately destroy Indigenous language, culture, spirituality in order to take us off the land,” Grand Chief Phillip explained. “The real intent of the residential schools was to destroy our spiritual attachment to the land.”

“There are ministers of the Crown back in those days that said we need to ‘take the Indian out of the child’ through the residential school system which featured harsh penalties for Indigenous students caught speaking their language and singing or anything that reflected their culture.”

“It’s a reflection of the incredible, astonishing level of ignorance that exists when it comes to the true history of colonization as it pertains to the Indigenous people of these lands,” Grand Chief Philip added. “It’s so distorted.”

In a 2018 posting, Clare referenced “truth” and “reconciliation” while expressing anxiety that attempts to “address historical wrongs” could serve to “suppress another aspect of history and culture.”

“Promotion of one culture to address historical wrongs does not mean that it is right or proper to suppress another aspect of history and culture,” Clare wrote. “Such methodology denies truth and diversity while encouraging division over any attempt at reconciliation.”

Sheldon Clare (Facebook)

Grand Chief Phillip says Clare’s postings not only raise questions about whether he can represent a riding with Indigenous constituents, but raise questions about his fitness for public office.

“People who spread their hate and grossly distorted notions of history are an impediment to communities and provinces and the country itself coming together to build a better future for our children,” Grand Chief Phillip said. “It’s absolutely divisive and counterproductive to spread that racist crap.”

Neither Sheldon Clare nor BC Conservative Party responded to requests for comment from PressProgress about Clare’s postings on residential schools.

If elected, BC Conservative leader John Rustad has controversially pledged to repeal the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Rustad, like Clare, has also faced public criticism over comments about residential schools – earlier this summer, in two separate interviews with CBC Radio and CTV News, Rustad equated inclusive educational curricula about gender and sexuality in schools with residential schools.

“One of the things that led to, for example, residential schools and what happened there is parents’ rights were taken away,” Rustad told CTV News. “The parents of indigenous children were not allowed to raise their children. The government felt that they knew best and it came to disastrous results. And I look at what’s happening in our education system today where parents’ rights are being taken away and I think that is wrong.”

Last year, BC Conservative candidate Elenore Sturko – a former BC United MLA who later switched and joined the BC Conservatives – publicly criticized Rustad for a tweet on Truth and Reconciliation Day 2023 drawing an analogy between residential schools and the anti-LGBTQ+ “parental rights” movement.

“John Rustad not only needs to make an unequivocal apology for his misappropriation of NDTR but also for calling homosexuality a ‘lifestyle’ in media interviews where he doubled-down in his ignorance,” Sturko stated.

“John Rustad’s attempt to liken the cultural genocide of Indigenous people with arrests of LGBT people – as a mean of justifying his political dog whistling – is incredibly insulting to Indigenous people and to members of the LGBT community.”

Elenore Sturko (Twitter)

Sturko, who is now running for the BC Conservatives in the riding of Surrey South, did not respond to a request from PressProgress on whether she still stands by this statement about Rustad.

While the recent outburst of “Trumpism” and “bizarre right-wing conspiracy theories” makes him fear for the province his 15 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren will grow up in, Grand Chief Phillip says history also provides reasons to be hopeful.

“History will move on,” Grand Chief Phillip said. “Indigenous people, People of Colour, will survive this, there’s a lot of good things happening in our world in terms of reconciliation and coming together in our own societies for the sake of our children.”

“They’re not going to win, this ugliness will fade.”

More information about Canada’s residential school history is available at the website of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.