Definitions and Denial: Residential Schools, the MMIWG Report, and Holocaust Memory in Canada

/ PANEL

The release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls’ reports have confronted Canadians with difficult questions concerning their own history. Does the treatment of Indigenous peoples by the Canadian government constitute genocide, and how can it be stopped? How can a nation with a positive self-image work through the unresolved issues presented by settler colonialism? What does the legacy and memory of the Holocaust mean for Indigenous activism and policy? What are the similarities between Indigenous genocide deniers and Nazi Holocaust deniers?

During this discussion hosted by Bernie Farber (Canadian AntiHate Network, human rights & social justice consultant), panelists Alicia Elliott (Haudenosaunee writer, author of A Mind Spread Out on the Ground), Lorena Fontaine (Cree-Anishnabe from the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba & Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University of Winnipeg) and Dr. Hilary Earl (historian of the Holocaust and Professor of European History and Genocide Studies at Nipissing University) will unpack these essential questions in the context of Holocaust memory.

Presented in conjunction with the Neuberger’s Holocaust Denial and Free Speech exhibit on view at Campbell House Museum.