“He’s not denied the impact of residential schools, that’s just misinformation,” Poilievre told reporters Saturday when asked about his support for Gunn, the candidate for North Island-Powell River.

“In fact, he has said that he wants to continue to condemn the residential schools and build stronger partnerships with First Nations people to unlock our resources, so that we can produce incredible paycheques and opportunities for First Nations communities right across British Columbia.”

Among those posts referenced included a video posted on social media in which Gunn said Canada’s program of residential schools did not constitute an act of genocide and that the schools are “much-maligned.”

“There was no genocide. Stop lying to people and read a book,” Gunn wrote in 2020.

  • But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Reminder that when Harper apologized to the native populations of Canada for residential schools, Poilievre was openly critical about the apology. Harper had to bitch him out and apologize for his criticism.

    PP is a racist dick bag who has never worked a day in his life

      • Dearche@lemmy.ca
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        17 hours ago

        Just need three different news outlets to ask about the guy and when PP’ll remove him in a single press conference. When people are spending more time asking about one of his party candidates than whatever he was giving a speech about, he’ll have no choice.

  • Binzy_Boi@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    Gotta love the language here implying he only sees Indigenous people as means to access resources rather than seeing them as normal people whose lives and histories should be respected.

    • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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      2 hours ago

      It’s the Conservative way to prioritize material gains over human and environmental consideration.

      Isn’t their mascot prospector stepping over their own grandmother?

    • brisk@lemmy.ca
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      9 hours ago

      Is it any surprise, given this scandal from back when Harper was Prime Minister?

      Poilievre had come under heavy criticism for telling CFRA News Talk Radio that he wasn’t sure Canada was “getting value for all of this money” being spent to compensate former students of federally financed residential schools.

      “My view is that we need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self-reliance. That’s the solution in the long run — more money will not solve it,” Poilievre said.

      The MP for Nepean-Carleton also suggested that aboriginal chiefs have too much power.

      “That gets to the heart of the problem on these reserves where there is too much power concentrated in the hands of the leadership, and it makes you wonder where all of this money is going.”

      He was saying on this on the same day Harper was issuing a historic apology to indigenous peoples for the residential school program too, mind you.

    • Dearche@lemmy.ca
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      17 hours ago

      Considering PP’s words, he’s always seen raw resources as more important than the people of this country, regardless of their skin colour. Notice that before the election started, he pretty much never talked about jobs or public services, or living affordability, but instead the only times he didn’t attack the Liberals, he was talking about exploiting raw resources.

      He sees this country as nothing more than a giant mine and oil well. Nothing else matters to him and anything not related to those two things are simply platitudes. You can tell since he barely spends any time on anything else, and it’s always so half hearted.

    • n2burns@lemmy.ca
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      24 hours ago

      Your comment is very short, so I may be reading too much into it. However, most people who deny Residential Schools were part of genocide, simply don’t know the definition. From the UN:

      genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

      1. Killing members of the group;
      2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
      3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
      4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
      5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

      Many people assume genocide can is only something like the Holocaust, where there’s an attempt to exterminate a group, but it can be more subtle, such as, “killing the indian in the child.”

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        17 hours ago

        I’d like to add that you don’t have to try to eliminate a group physically to be considered a genocide. Cultural genocide is a thing as well. The act of deliberately erasing a cultural identity, or to erase cultural practices is a form of genocide.

        Of course, there is leeway here, since certain things aren’t protected, like racial superiority, or cultures that promote hostility against other groups.

      • orbitz@lemmy.ca
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        24 hours ago

        My dad was status native, I couldn’t get that…now I’ll say what is my recollection because it’s been many years but I got the impression was because they (government…other? Unsure) disbanded the tribe for whatever reason that was. Mean I don’t want to claim rights or anything but a shame of whatever the reason a tribe was to not recognize it means someone doesn’t get those rights. I sort of thought it was cause my Mom was too white for many years, so sort of unsure. It’s unfortunately too late to get specifics but think the band being disbanded was the reason and a poor one. Apparently he tried to get me those rights at least once but was denied.