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Articles by Sean Carleton
Opinion: Don’t let denialism distract from truth and reconciliation progress Original
CFD fire trucks display a 'flag salute' with an orange flag bearing the name of those who passed away at residential schools during at Calgary's Confluence historic site for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. Brent Calver/Postmedia Photo by Brent Calver/Postmedia /Brent Calver/Postmedia Article content Millions of Canadians participated in “Orange Shirt Day” activities last week to observe the 6th National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30.
Residential School Denialism And Backlash Against Reconciliation
Above photo: Survivors, families, students, and staff attend UBC’s annual Intergenerational March to commemorate Orange Shirt Day, September 30, 2025. Province of British Columbia/Flickr. An excerpt from Sean Carleton and Niigaan Sinclair’s new edited collection, Truth Before Reconciliation.
Residential school denialism and the backlash against reconciliation
Survivors, families, students, and staff attend UBC’s annual Intergenerational March to commemorate Orange Shirt Day, September 30, 2025. Photo courtesy the Province of British Columbia/Flickr.
Putting truth and respect before reconciliation
Former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Photo by Bumble Dee/Shutterstock. Sean Carleton and Niigaan Sinclair, Indigenous studies professors and editors of the new book, Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism, respond to the slow creep of harmful and disrespectful residential school denialist rhetoric into mainstream media discourse. This article was originally pitched to the Globe and Mail, but it was declined. Two things can be true at the same time.
Confronting The Far-Right’s War On Reconciliation
Above photo: Frances Widdowson, a former Mount Royal University professor, left, and OneBC interim leader Dallas Brodie at an anti-reconciliation event in Kamloops, November 2025. Dallas Brodie/X. Residential school denialism and the politics of Canada’s anti-Indigenous industry.
Confronting the far-right’s war on reconciliation
Frances Widdowson, a former Mount Royal University professor, left, and OneBC interim leader Dallas Brodie at an anti-reconciliation event in Kamloops, November 2025. Brodie has called reports of residential school graves the “worst lie in Canadian history.” Photo courtesy Dallas Brodie/X.
America Didn’t Have A Boom This Black Friday
Above photo: Mike Petrucci. It had a breakdown. Black Friday set another record this year. Reporters treated it as proof that Americans still have strength in their wallets and that the economy has life in it. The president called it the “Trump Bump.” The headlines bragged about an eleven point eight billion dollar day and analysts lined up to praise the numbers. None of it holds up once you look at how people paid for those purchases and how much strain sits underneath those sales.
‘Flooding the zone’ with residential school denialism
Vancouver–Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie was expelled from the BC Conservative caucus after mocking residential school survivor testimony in a podcast appearance. Photo courtesy Dallas Brodie/X. In light of BC MLA Dallas Brodie’s persistent residential school denialism—most recently through inflammatory comments on Orange Shirt Day and the promotion of a new propaganda film about residential schooling—it’s important to understand these actions as part of a broader far-right strategy.
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.
Résister au colonialisme « elbows up » (agressif) du Canada - Presse-toi à gauche !
Tiré de Canadian dimension. Ellen Gabriel et Sean Carleton 18 septembre 2025 S’il existe de bonnes raisons de résister à l’expansionnisme américain et de rejeter le rêve de Trump d’annexer le Canada comme 51ᵉ État, ce nationalisme « agressif » risque de raviver une nostalgie superficielle qui dissimule la propre histoire coloniale du Canada.
Resisting Canada’s ‘elbows up’ colonialism
In response to the re-election of Donald Trump, the United States’ on-again, off-again tariff war with Canada, and America’s slide into authoritarianism, many Canadians are adopting an “elbows up” attitude. From boycotting US products to booing the American national anthem at hockey games, people are being encouraged to brace for the future defensively, with their arms raised high.
Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives have a residential school denialism problem
Aaron Gunn and Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Photo courtesy Aaron Gunn/Facebook. Pierre Poilievre is facing an intense backlash for standing by Aaron Gunn, a controversial federal election candidate in the British Columbia riding of North Island–Powell River, who has defended residential schools. Poilievre’s decision to support a candidate engaging in residential school denialism is disappointing but not surprising.
Ellen Gabriel: a better world is impossible without challenging colonialism
Anyone who has seen news footage from the 1990 standoff between Canada’s military and the Mohawk nation will remember Ellen Gabriel—amidst the heightened tensions, she radiated a quiet and calm strength.
Learning Whiteness: Education and the Settler Colonial State
Advanced search History of Education Journal of the History of Education Society Latest Articles Submit an article Journal homepage Full Article Figures & data Citations Metrics Reprints & Permissions Read this article /doi/full/10.1080/0046760X.2024.2430995?needAccess=true "Learning Whiteness: Education and the Settler Colonial State." History of Education, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp.
Sean Carleton’s Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia
Catherine Ellis is an associate professor and settler scholar in the Department of History at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Her historical research focuses on modern Britain, particularly the impact of youth cultures and young voters on British politics. In 2020–21, she co-chaired the Standing Strong Task Force, which addressed the history and legacies of her university’s former namesake, Egerton Ryerson, whose ideas framed Canada’s first public school systems.
Exploring Indigenous resistance in a new book
When those boxes of heavily redacted documents start to pile in, reporters at The Narwhal waste no time in looking for kernels of news that matter the most. Just ask our Prairies reporter Drew Anderson, who gleefully scanned through freedom of information files like a kid in a candy store, leading to pretty damning revelations in Alberta. Long story short: the government wasn’t being forthright when it claimed its pause on new renewable energy projects wasn’t political.
Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Nii Ndahlohke: Boys’ and Girls’ Work at Mount Elgin Industrial School, 1890-1915 (Altona, MB: Friesen Press, 2022)
Published 2024-06-03 Carleton, S. (2024). Mary Jane Logan McCallum, Nii Ndahlohke: Boys’ and Girls’ Work at Mount Elgin Industrial School, 1890–1915 (Altona, MB: Friesen Press, 2022). Labour Le Travail, 93, 352–353. https://doi.org/10.52975/llt.2024v93.019
Opinion: We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their ‘mass grave hoax’ theory
THE CONVERSATION — Recently a politician from a village in Prince Edward Island displayed an offensive sign on his property in which he proclaimed there is a “mass grave hoax” regarding the former Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Although many have called for him to resign, he is just one of many people who subscribe to this false theory. A hoax is an act intended to trick people into believing something that isn’t true.
Debunking residential school ‘mass grave hoax’ theory
Recently, a politician from a village in Prince Edward Island displayed an offensive sign on his property in which he proclaimed there is a “mass grave hoax” regarding the former residential schools in Canada. Although many have called for him to resign, he is just one of many people who subscribe to this false theory.
Debunking residential school ‘mass grave hoax’ theory
Recently, a politician from a village in Prince Edward Island displayed an offensive sign on his property in which he proclaimed there is a “mass grave hoax” regarding the former residential schools in Canada. Although many have called for him to resign, he is just one of many people who subscribe to this false theory.
We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their ‘mass grave hoax’ theory
Print Email Read Later This article was originally published on The Conversation, an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. Disclosure information is available on the original site. Read this article for free: Email Address: Password: I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. Already have an account?
We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their ‘mass grave hoax’ theory
Recently a politician from a village in Prince Edward Island displayed an offensive sign on his property in which he proclaimed there is a “mass grave hoax” regarding the former Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Although many have called for him to resign, he is just one of many people who subscribe to this false theory. A hoax is an act intended to trick people into believing something that isn’t true.
Truth Before Reconciliation: 8 Ways to Identify and Confront Residential School Denialism
| September 30th, 2023 Embracing the truth necessary for reconciliation is made difficult by those who still deny the systemic violence of residential schools.
Truth Before Reconciliation: 8 Ways to Identify and Confront Residential School Denialism
Avoiding Truth, Rushing Reconciliation Murray Sinclair, the TRC’s chair, has recently argued that residential school denialism is on the rise and real reconciliation is at risk. Canada, Sinclair suggests, is rushing reconciliation and leaving the truth behind. In light of recent announcements of unmarked children’s graves across the country, now is the time to confront the truth about Canada’s IRS system and, in the process, disprove and discredit denialism.
New article on confronting the rise of residential school denialism — Sean Carleton
Niigaan Sinclair and I wrote a piece responding to the recent rise of residential school denialism. Read the article here.
Against Residential School Denialism
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Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia
BC Studies no. 218 Summer 2023 | p. 130-132 Lessons in Legitimacy is a comprehensive volume that places the development of schooling in British Columbia between 1849 and 1930 in the broader context of an ongoing cycle of colonial dispossession and capitalist accumulation.
Understanding the RCMP’s role in residential schooling
Police actively enforced a genocidal school system for over a century Canadian PoliticsIndigenous Politics On May 23, 2023 the Royal Canadian Mounted Police celebrated its 150th anniversary and kicked off a series of #RCMP150 initiatives. To counter the uncritical mythologizing of the Mounties we are seeing—from the prime minister to the RCMP itself—the National RCMP Research Council has created a new website to share truths about the force.
How Public Schools Supported Settler Colonialism in BC
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Opinion: Reckoning with the history of public schooling and settler colonialism
In light of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), many Canadians are coming to terms with Canada’s history of schooling and settler colonialism.
Reckoning with the history of public schooling and settler colonialism Original
In light of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), many Canadians are coming to terms with Canada’s history of schooling and settler colonialism.
Lessons in Legitimacy, By Sean Carleton
294 pages, 6 x 9 30 b&w photos, 4 maps Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of State Schooling in British Columbia UBC Press Between 1849 and 1930, colonial, provincial, and federal governments assumed greater responsibility for education in what is now British Columbia, using schooling as a strategy to catalyze and legitimize the development of a capitalist settler society.
Canada’s reckoning with colonialism and education must include Indian Day Schools
Print Friendly | Contact the Editor Posted on July 19, 2022 In Anishinabek, News, Opinions Trigger warning: readers may be triggered by the recount of Indian Residential Schools. To access a 24-hour National Crisis Line, call: 1-866-925-4419. Community Assistance Program (CAP) can be accessed for citizens of the Anishinabek Nation: 1-800-663-1142. Previously published on theconversation.com on July 12, 2022.
Canada’s Colonial Reckoning Must Include Indian Day Schools
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Canada’s reckoning with colonialism and education must include Indian Day Schools
Sparked by the locating of hundreds of possible unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools across the country, there has been a public reckoning with the ongoing legacies of the residential school system. Many Canadians are finally coming to terms with the truth that the Canadian government, in co-operation with Christian churches, ran a genocidal school system intended to “kill the Indian in the child” for more than a century.
Fighting 'denialists' for the truth about unmarked graves and residential schooling
This column is an opinion by Kisha Supernant, director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta, and Sean Carleton, assistant professor in the departments of history and Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
Ignore debaters and denialists, Canada's treatment of Indigenous Peoples fits the definition of genocide
This summer, as many Indigenous communities searched the sites of former residential schools for dead and missing children, a small group of historians insisted on debating the applicability of the term “genocide” when referring to Canada’s Indian Residential School system.
The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land
By Pamela E. Klassen October 6, 2021 Review By Sean Carleton Many British Columbians today want to learn more about the history and ongoing legacy of settler colonialism. The news of unmarked graves being located at former residential school sites across Canada has prompted people to ask critical questions about the role Christian churches played in colonialism generally and in managing the residential school system specifically. Pamela E.
La vérité avant la réconciliation : 8 façons de confronter les négationnistes des pensionnats pour autochtones
Dans son rapport final de 2015, la Commission de vérité et réconciliation a été claire : « Sans vérité […], il ne peut y avoir de véritable réconciliation. » Le problème, expliquent les commissaires, est qu’« un trop grand nombre de Canadiens ne savent pas grand-chose, voire rien du tout, sur les racines historiques profondes » des problèmes actuels qui découlent du colonialisme de peuplement en général et des pensionnats en particulier.
Against Residential School Denialism
When subscribing to a newsletter edition you'll also get early notice on Tyee events, news, promotions, partner messages and special initiatives. Further to the provision of the Personal Information Protection Act, personal information is kept confidential by TheTyee.ca and will not be sold, traded, released, shared or distributed to any other individuals, organizations or agencies without prior consent or notification.
8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism
In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was clear: "Without truth ... there can be no genuine reconciliation."
8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism
In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was clear: "Without truth ... there can be no genuine reconciliation."
8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism
In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was clear: "Without truth ... there can be no genuine reconciliation."
Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism
Opinion Daniel Heath Justice , Sean Carleton TheConversation.com Friday, August 6, 2021 In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was clear: “Without truth … there can be no genuine reconciliation.” The problem, the commissioners explained, is that “too many Canadians know little or nothing about the deep historical roots” of the ongoing issues stemming from settler colonialism generally and residential schooling specifically.
Opinion | Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism
In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was clear: “Without truth … there can be no genuine reconciliation.” The problem, the commissioners explained, is that “too many Canadians know little or nothing about the deep historical roots” of the ongoing issues stemming from settler colonialism generally and residential schooling specifically.
Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism
Opinion Daniel Heath Justice , Sean Carleton TheConversation.com Friday, August 6, 2021 In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was clear: “Without truth … there can be no genuine reconciliation.” The problem, the commissioners explained, is that “too many Canadians know little or nothing about the deep historical roots” of the ongoing issues stemming from settler colonialism generally and residential schooling specifically.
Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism
Opinion Daniel Heath Justice , Sean Carleton TheConversation.com Friday, August 6, 2021 In its 2015 final report, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was clear: “Without truth … there can be no genuine reconciliation.” The problem, the commissioners explained, is that “too many Canadians know little or nothing about the deep historical roots” of the ongoing issues stemming from settler colonialism generally and residential schooling specifically.
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