{"id":106893,"date":"2026-07-15T16:54:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106893"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:54:27","slug":"chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs call on feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume First Nations chiefs say the federal government is enabling residential school denialism by failing to make it a crime. The chiefs passed an emergency resolution at the Assembly of First Nations general meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday calling on the feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech. &#8220;Truth is not optional and reconciliation cannot exist without truth,&#8221; said Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation. &#8220;We must honour the survivors and we must honour every child who never came home.&#8221; The resolution comes not long after the Liberals passed a new hate crime law. Some senators tried and failed to amend that law to cover residential school denialism. Chiefs have passed similar resolutions over the years but the federal government has yet to change the&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F15%2Fchiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume First Nations chiefs say the federal government is enabling residential school denialism by failing to make it a crime. The chiefs passed an emergency resolution at the Assembly of First Nations general meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday calling on the feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech. &#8220;Truth is not optional and reconciliation cannot exist without truth,&#8221; said Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation. &#8220;We must honour the survivors and we must honour every child who never came home.&#8221; The resolution comes not long after the Liberals passed a new hate crime law. Some senators tried and failed to amend that law to cover residential school denialism. Chiefs have passed similar resolutions over the years but the federal government has yet to change the... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F15%2Fchiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chiefs call on feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs call on feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alessia Passafiume First Nations chiefs say the federal government is enabling residential school denialism by failing to make it a crime. The chiefs passed an emergency resolution at the Assembly of First Nations general meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday calling on the feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech. &#8220;Truth is not optional and reconciliation cannot exist without truth,&#8221; said Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Cree Nation. &#8220;We must honour the survivors and we must honour every child who never came home.&#8221; The resolution comes not long after the Liberals passed a new hate crime law. Some senators tried and failed to amend that law to cover residential school denialism. Chiefs have passed similar resolutions over the years but the federal government has yet to change the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T20:54:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T20:54:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Chiefs call on feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T20:54:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-15T20:54:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":467,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/15\\\/chiefs-call-on-feds-to-criminalize-residential-school-denialism-as-hate-speech\\\/\",\"name\":\"Chiefs call on feds to criminalize residential school denialism as hate speech - 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