WARNING: This story contains details of experiences at residential schools.
KENORA — A years-old social media post by a candidate running in a B.C. riding denying that Canada’s residential school system was genocidal drew a pointed response from a survivor running in Kenora-Kiiwetinoong.
Charles Fox, who is running for the Liberals in the Northwestern Ontario riding, issued a statement on April 10. In it, he called for the federal Conservative party to renounce North Island-Powell River candidate Aaron Gunn over a 2020 social media post about residential schools.
“There was no genocide. Stop lying to people and read a book,” he posted on Oct. 22, 2020. “The Holocaust was a genocide. Get off Twitter and learn more about the world.”
Those comments didn’t sit well with Fox, who attended residential school in the 1960s.
“I was removed from my family, so I experienced it firsthand,” he told Newswatch in an interview. “It's real. I mean, it happened to me — you can't say it didn't happen to me.”
Gunn posted to X on April 3 that he has "always been firm in recognizing the truly horrific events that transpired in residential schools, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is simply false."
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has rejected calls to remove Gunn as a candidate, according to multiple reports.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission categorized the intent behind the residential school system as “cultural genocide” in 2015.
Fox said he’s confused by the Conservative party’s stance in keeping Gunn as a candidate, as it was the same party, under then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who issued the historic 2008 apology for the residential school system.
“So, for me, it's confusing but also very disappointing,” he said. “I think we've come a long way in our history in terms of dealing with what happened to 150,000 kids in that institution … and it's a journey that we've begun together as a country.”
Tania Cameron, who is running for the New Democrats in the same riding, said words like Gunn’s cause real harm, including in a riding with dozens of First Nations.
“There are 38 First Nations and so many Indigenous people within the riding — whether they live on reserve (or) off reserve — have been impacted and have intergenerational trauma due to residential schools,” she said. “So, for someone to stand for a federal party, I'm just disgusted.”
“It's not right.”
Cameron said she was reminded of comments made back in 2017 by now-retired Sen. Lynn Beyak from Dryden and who was appointed to the Red Chamber by Harper, that said many residential school instructors had good intentions and criticized the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for only focusing on negative experiences in the schools.
Beyak faced significant backlash for those comments, and was suspended from the Senate on two occasions.
“You can't be in public office and hold those views and feel confident enough in your entitlement to express those views as something that was not harmful,” Cameron said. “To spread that message, to deny the residential schools their trauma.
“They certainly are not fit for public office.”
A message left at the campaign office of Eric Melillo requesting comment from the Conservative incumbent was not returned. People’s Party of Canada candidate Bryce Desjarlais didn’t return a request for comment and the federal Green Party has told Dougall Media that their candidate, Jon Hobbs, is not doing media interviews during the campaign.
Kelvin Boucher-Chicago, who is running as an independent in Kenora-Kiiwetinoong, said he wasn’t aware of Gunn’s comments. He also didn’t criticize the residential school system as fiercely as his fellow candidates.
“I went to a what we call residential school, my whole family went to residential school,” he said. “We lost family members to residential school, but we didn't let that … bring us down.”
“In fact, it helped us more to stand up a little bit harder and we stood on our own.”
Both Fox and Cameron said Gunn shouldn’t be running for office or be endorsed by the Conservative Party.
The national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available at 1-866-925-4419. Additionally, the Hope for Wellness hotline provides mental health counselling and crisis support at 1-855-242-3310.
