Holocaust distortion, indigenous-style
I argue below that comparing the treatment of indigenous peoples in Canada’s residential schools to the Holocaust is a form of distortion and self-serving manipulation by politically motivated actors. My piece highlights the lack of physical evidence and verified records supporting claims of genocide at these schools, contrasting this with the extensive documentation of the Holocaust. I also contend that such comparisons trivialize the Holocaust and undermine the pursuit of truth and reconciliation with indigenous communities.
Holocaust distortion, indigenous-style
Without physical evidence or verified records, invoking the Holocaust in Canada’s residential school debate distorts both history and justice.
Hymie Rubenstein
Western Standard Guest Columnist
April 6, 2026
Hymie Rubenstein, editor of REAL Indigenous Report, is a retired professor of anthropology at the University of Manitoba and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
The Holocaust, the largest and cruellest genocide in human history, is also the best-documented deliberate mass killing meant to exterminate an entire ethnic group. As much as this gravest form of crimes against humanity has been documented, this has not prevented its constant distortion and self-serving manipulation by politically motivated actors.
Less well known is that this misrepresentation, even if unintended, serves to either undermine or cast doubt on the historical truth of what was the genocide of genocides.
Holocaust distortion in the context of indigenous issues, particularly in North America, refers to the practice of comparing European colonization and the treatment of indigenous peoples — such as the residential school system — directly to the Holocaust. This comparison is a form of distortion because it trivializes the specific nature of the Holocaust while decontextualizing indigenous history.
There is no better recent example of Holocaust distortion and trivialization than the March 25 update to members of the Senate Standing Committee on Indigenous Issues by Rosanne Casimir, Chief of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation (legally the Kamloops Indian Band), of a shocking announcement she released on May 27, 2021, that was heard around the world:
This past weekend, with the help of a ground-penetrating radar specialist, the stark truth of the preliminary findings came to light — the confirmation of the [buried] remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School … “We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify. To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths,” stated Kukpi7 Rosanne Casimir.
