Special Interlocutor has No Authority to Demand Criminalization of Residential School Factualism
By Michelle Stirling ©2023
Kimberly Murray, the independent special interlocutor on missing children, unmarked graves and burial sites associated with residential schools, is a civil servant, appointed by an Order in Council to report to the Justice Minister.
Her mandate calls for her to “function independently and impartially, in a non-partisan and transparent manner to achieve the objectives of her mandate.” She was to “begin a dialogue” with various affected domestic parties, review legislation, and to “Carry out this mandate in a manner that does not interfere with criminal investigations, prosecutions or civil proceedings.”
In contravention of this mandate, Ms. Murray took it upon herself in January 2023 to send an unvetted 21-page report to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, prior to his visit to Canada to look into alleged human rights violations and claims of genocide; and in March 2023, Ms. Murray sent a 6-page version to the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Despite having been the Executive Director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Ms. Murray oddly claimed that the TRC had characterized Indian Residential Schools as genocide, which is not true. She submitted unsupported hearsay claims of extreme violence and nefarious deeds, lurid horror stories, none of which are in the TRC and none of which have been proven in a court of law.
The purpose of the Indian Residential Schools was the equivalent of today’s “Learn to code.” A just transition to a new world. In the words of Duncan Scott of Indian Affairs at the time: “I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone…” As stated in the TRC reports, Indian Residential Schools were the choice of the Indigenous elite.
In addition to food, clothing, and shelter, many former staff said, parents sought out the residential school for the opportunities the school could offer their children. “Who came to residential schools?” asked former teacher Olive Saunders: “The elite. The councillor’s children, his family’s children, the Chief’s children.… They were wonderful kids. They were smart kids. So they were the elite … because their parents knew that someday their kids would need to be educated.”332 James Fiori felt that residential schools constituted the only educational opportunity available to students: “I know some of the ones that I have talked to of the whole thing, if they don’t have an education, they will not have a chance. And you know, like I know the north country, you know, like there simply wasn’t anything available.”333 (pg. 535[1])
Canadians are sleepwalking into a geopolitical disaster. At the UN, China has accused Canada of genocide, banding together with a number of tyrant nations. BRICS nations now challenge G7 hegemony. Obviously, Ms. Murray sending unofficial, unvetted reports to the UN Special Rapporteur/UN Expert Mechanism has violated the explicit directive that she must not interfere with investigations. She has provided China with all the ammunition it needs to make life miserable for us on the global stage.
And now, also outside her mandate, Kimberly Murray wants people like me to face criminal charges for residential school factualism. The genocide orthodoxy is not true.
For several years I was writing/co-producing historical documentaries under the supervision of Dr. Hugh Dempsey, then curator of the Glenbow Museum. Dr. Dempsey’s wife, Pauline Gladstone, and father-in-law were both Indian Residential School graduates who did well in life. There was no talk of genocide. Gladstone’s granddaughter recalled how Senator Gladstone enjoyed reading.
As noted in Shingwauk’s Vision, an Assiniboine Chief recalled: “…Our children and grandchildren will be taught the magic art of writing. Just think for a moment what that means. Without the aid of a spoken word our children will transmit their thoughts on a piece of paper, and that talking paper may be carried to distant parts of the country and convey your thoughts to your friends. Why even the medicine men of our tribe cannot perform such miracles.”
Kimberly Murray has taken this magic art of writing and turned it into Bad Medicine for Canada.
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Michelle Stirling is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists. She researched, wrote, and co-produced historical shows about Southern Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Hugh Dempsey, then curator of the Glenbow Museum.
