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In this rdnewsNOW file photo, the Treaty Six flag flies at Wolf Creek Public Schools head offices in Ponoka. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)
calls grow louder

Treaty Six chiefs demand resignation of Kenney’s speechwriter

Jun 28, 2020 | 4:30 PM

Calls are becoming louder for Premier Jason Kenney to fire his speechwriter Paul Bunner after it was revealed this week he made comments in 2013 questioning the severity of the effects of residential schools on Indigenous peoples.

On Thursday, Kenney stated that he “fundamentally disagreed” with Bunner’s statements, but rejected demands from the opposition NDP to give him the boot.

Kenney said his government denounces the horrors of the residential schools and the institutionalized racism that supported them, adding that the best way forward is for everyone to work together and listen.

“I think we’re all learning about, for example, the reality and legacy of the Aboriginal residential schools,” said the premier.

Kenney, asked twice by reporters earlier this week to clarify Bunner’s status, declined to say if Bunner would be removed from his position or sanctioned for the remarks.

Now, the Confederacy of Treaty Six Chiefs is saying Bunner’s comment that residential schools were a “bogus genocide story” fly in the face of reconciliation.

“In 2020, it is the highest disgrace for any government staff to disparage from one of the greatest tragedies in our history and openly criticize the Indian residential school survivors as ‘activists’ with ‘never-ending demands,'” says a press release.

“Paul Bunner’s article was published after the Indian residential school apology in 2008, and it is clear that he does not have the ability to see past his own privilege and prejudice to apologize for insulting our Indian residential school survivors and their children.”

The release from Treaty Six representatives adds that the government must hold its employees accountable when it comes to blatant discrimination, especially when working to achieve reconciliation.

Premier Kenney has stated that he was not aware of his speechwriter’s remarks on residential schools at the time of his hiring.

As many as 150,000 Indigenous children are thought to have spent some time in a residential school over a century starting in the late 19th century.

The religious schools were government-sponsored and were designed to both educate and convert Indigenous youth and to assimilate them into Canadian society.

Last fall, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation revealed 2,800 names of children believed to have died in the schools.

Among others, Red Deer is situated on Treaty Six land, which includes 16 different First Nations.

(With file from The Canadian Press)

RELATED: Kenney rejects NDP call to fire speechwriter over residential school comments

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