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Articles by Benjamin J. Kucher
COMMENTARY: Confronting residential schools denialism is an ethical and shared Canadian responsibility
In May 2021, when the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced preliminary results of their search for unmarked burials of children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (IRS), Canada was forced to reckon with a truth that Survivors had always carried: children were taken, and many never came home.
Opinion: Why we must confront residential school denialism
In May 2021, when the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced preliminary results of their search for unmarked burials of children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (IRS), Canada was forced to reckon with a truth that Survivors had always carried: children were taken, and many never came home.
The Conversation: Confronting residential schools denialism is an ethical and shared Canadian responsibility
September 23, 2025 — As written in The Conversation by Associate Professor, Departments of History and Indigenous Studies, University of Manitoba and Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta.
Confronting residential schools denialism is an ethical and shared Canadian responsibility Original
In May 2021, when the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced preliminary results of their search for unmarked burials of children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School (IRS), Canada was forced to reckon with a truth that Survivors had always carried: children were taken, and many never came home.
What the GSA executive director’s departure really reveals
Disclosure: Benjamin J. Kucher was previously the GSA’s vice-president (student life). The sudden and unannounced departure of Lewie Moodley, the University of Alberta Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) executive director, should have set off alarms across campus. But instead, it happened quietly — almost as if the organization hoped no one would notice. I only found out by reading the minutes.
Indigenous students are still fighting to be heard in student governance
Disclosure: Benjamin J. Kucher was previously the GSA’s vice-president (student life). Reconciliation cannot be symbolic. Yet too often, that’s all Indigenous students are offered — public acknowledgements without real accountability, empty gestures instead of structural change, and roles without the power to make a difference.
The GSA budget failed — again. Something needs to change - The Gateway
Disclosure: Benjamin J. Kucher was previously the GSA’s vice-president (student life). The Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) budget has now failed — twice. That fact alone should give students pause. But it’s not just the failure of the budget itself that matters — it’s what the process behind it reveals: a leadership unwilling to listen, a broken approach to governance, and a growing crisis of trust that now places the very future of the GSA in question.
Failing external advocacy of the GSA: Silence in a time of urgency
Disclosure: Benjamin J. Kucher was previously the GSA’s vice-president (student life). Graduate students at the University of Alberta deserve a representative body that not only defends our rights on campus but also empowers us to be active participants in the democratic processes that shape our futures. Yet once again, the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) has failed to step up when it matters most.
Indigenous issues are not just a campaign talking point
Disclosure: Benjamin J. Kucher is currently the chair of the National Indigenous Advocacy Committee (NIAC). Indigenous advocacy is not a buzzword, nor should it be a superficial addition to a candidate’s campaign platform. Yet, throughout this University of Alberta Students’ Union (SU) election cycle,it seems that some candidates are only engaging with Indigenous issues on a superficial level.
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