Philosophers' Jam: Critical thinking about the Indian Residential Schools

Date: Monday, November 24, 2025
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm
Location: T-Gallery at Langara College
Cost: FREE

Refreshments: Complimentary coffee and snacks provided

Guest lecturer: Dr. Richard Johns (PhD)

Topic: Critical thinking about the Indian Residential Schools

Abstract: Over the past 35 years or so, the standard view of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools, expressed in mainstream media and academic writing, has become increasingly negative. Prior to Phil Fontaine's 1990 account of physical and sexual abuse at Fort Alexander residential school, relatively little attention was paid to this important part of Canadian history. But after 1990 we have seen class-action lawsuits, an eight-year RCMP investigation, the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, apologies from governments and churches, and the Truth and the Reconciliation Commission Report (2015).  The reputation of the schools reached probably its lowest point yet when the Canadian Parliament voted unanimously in October 2022 to recognize the schools as genocide.

Nevertheless, some scholars are now claiming that the claim of genocide goes far beyond what the evidence supports.  A key point of contention is whether the 200 “probable burial sites" identified in the grounds of the Kamloops Residential School in 2021 are likely to contain the remains of former students. In my talk I will present some of the arguments of these recent critics, especially in the anthology of Clifton and DeWolf (2021), the anthology of Champion and Flanagan (2023), and Biggar (2025), to assess whether a re-evaluation of the Indian Residential Schools is required.

Speaker Bio: Richard Johns has a B.Sc. in applied mathematics, an M.A. in philosophy, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from UBC.  He has taught philosophy at UBC, SFU and most recently Langara College. His main research interests are in philosophy of physics, evolutionary biology, causation and free will. Having taught critical thinking for many years, Richard also feels a responsibility to examine the evidence concerning important issues of the day.