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Recurring talking point

The 'false' Kamloops claim is what got UNDRIP rushed through Canadian law.

Brian Giesbrecht, Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Retired provincial-court judge; Senior Fellow, Frontier Centre for Public Policy · Feb 2024

Fact-checked — verified

The chronology makes this claim impossible. The UN General Assembly adopted UNDRIP on September 13, 2007 (resolution A/RES/61/295). Canada endorsed it in 2010 and fully in 2016 — years before Kamloops. Federal Bill C-15 was introduced on December 3, 2020 — almost six months BEFORE the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc announcement on May 27, 2021. The residential-school record itself is not in dispute: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 2015 final report, Volume 4, documented at least 4,118 named student deaths drawn from Indian Affairs records. Branding that record 'false' is residential-school denialism.

Full source details

Bill C-15: An Act respecting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — introduction and first reading

Parliament of Canada — LEGISinfo (43rd Parliament, 2nd Session) · 2020-12-03

Canada's Residential Schools: Missing Children and Unmarked Burials (TRC Final Report, Volume 4)

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada / National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation · 2015-12-15

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada — Final Report

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada · 2015-12-15

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