ROTHENBURGER: In search of a definition for residential school denialism
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
THE STORY of a skeptic who showed up at the Kamloops residential school with a shovel in hand, ready to start digging for unmarked graves, came to light in an unusual way.
It was revealed in the interim report of Kimberley Murray, the federally appointed special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves and burial sites associated with residential schools.
“Denialists entered the site without permission,” she stated in her report. “Some came in the middle of the night, carrying shovels; they said they wanted to ’see for themselves’ if children are buried there.”
Wire services picked up on it and put it at the top of their stories about Murray’s report, which covered a lot of other ground in its 175 pages. Local media plucked it out of the wire-service articles for their own stories.
Within a few days, Kúkpi7 Rosanne Casimir confirmed that at least one person had come with a shovel, though when it happened is unclear. Turns out she had first related the incident at the National Gathering on Missing Children and Unmarked Burials in Vancouver back in January, but it had gone unnoticed by the media.
Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
What an abhorrent act of ignorance and sheer stupidity. Some people have had their brains hijacked by social media, and their idiocy is cultivated in an echo chamber.
Intelligence, critical thinking and rationale thought is on the decline.
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Without being too argumentative I’d suggest that if you are going to make sensational claims you need to show sensational evidence.
Other than very rudimentary ground penetrating radar scans, which are notoriously ephemeral, I have seen no solid evidence that what is claimed is in fact what it is purported to be.
Bearing in mind that dozens of Canadian churches have been subjected to arson attacks and millions of dollars have flowed to the coffers of the bands in question, based on the evidence presented thus far, it seems to me that appropriately sensitive forensic examination is called for. Without further delay.
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