Most Canadians support criminalizing residential school denialism, poll finds

A majority of Canadians would support making the denial of residential school atrocities a criminal offence, according to a new survey.

The Research Co. poll was conducted last month, after NDP MP Leah Gazan introduced a private member’s bill seeking to criminalize public denial of Canada’s residential school system, which forcibly separated Indigenous children from their families and culture, leading to widely documented physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

Asked how they would like their MP to vote on the bill, 57 per cent of survey respondents said they would “definitely” or “probably” want their local representative to back the proposal.

By comparison, 24 per cent said they would “definitely” or “probably” want their MP to vote the bill down, and 17 per cent weren’t sure.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have not indicated whether they will support the legislation, which has little chance of becoming law without the government’s endorsement.

Several countries have enacted similar laws against Holocaust denialism – including Canada, which did so in 2022. So far, no case has been successfully prosecuted under that provision.

In the same survey, Research Co. asked respondents when they first heard about residential schools in an educational setting.

Forty-eight per cent said they never learned about residential schools as a student, while 28 per cent said they did so in high school and 13 per cent said they did in elementary school. The remaining 11 per cent said they weren’t sure.

Forty-one per cent of respondents characterized their teachers’ assessment of residential schools as “very” or “somewhat” positive, compared to 36 per cent who said the assessment was “very” or “somewhat” negative.

The Research Co. poll was conducted from Oct. 21 to 23 among 1,001 adults in Canada. The margin of error for a survey of that size would be plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, according to the company.

With files from The Canadian Press