5 ways teachers can respond to residential school denialism in the classroom

Residential school denialism is entering or circulating within school communities across Canada in worrisome ways.

Racist graffiti and commentary, denialist classroom materials and assignments and school board advocacy , controversies over school library collections and challenges to truth and reconciliation school initiatives highlight the urgent importance of addressing denialism in classrooms.

As critical Indigenous studies professor Daniel Heath Justice and historian Sean Carleton explain, residential school denialism does not involve “the outright denial of the Indian Residential School (IRS) system’s existence.” Instead, denialists use varied arguments, rhetorical strategies and fallacies.

With these, they reject, misrepresent or minimize basic facts and evidence about residential schools, undermine truth and reconciliation efforts, protect the status quo and defend guilty parties.

We are non-Indigenous educators and researchers committed to truth and reconciliation, and co-investigators in the Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

With Indigenous and non-Indigenous collaborators, we’re researching how history education might better equip young people to understand complex histories, critically evaluate claims about the past, engage with different ways of knowing the past and participate thoughtfully in contemporary society.

In our recently published chapter about confronting residential school denialism in Canadian classrooms , we have identified five possible responses labelled the five Ds: detect, debunk, disregard, debate and deconstruct.

Historical thinking Historical thinking involves disagreement, revision, new evidence and competing interpretations.

The challenge posed by denialism is helping students distinguish legitimate historical disagreement from claims that disregard the evidence to give the appearance of controversy or disagreement.

If left unaddressed, denialism has important consequences for schools.

It can distort students’ understanding of the history of residential schools and Canadian history more broadly.

It can also erode trust in survivor testimony, historical evidence and scholarly expertise.

The 5 “Ds” we identify can support educators in distinguishing evidence-based historical interpretations from misinformation and pseudohistory — and can contribute to helping educators play a key role in advancing truth and reconciliation .

The 5 Ds 1.