From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy

By Tom Flanagan

Frances Widdowson faced mob hostility for saying unmarked graves have yet to be proven

Dr. Frances Widdowson’s visit to Winnipeg on Sept. 25 and 26 should have been an opportunity for debate. Instead, the city’s universities endorsed a statement that undermines academic freedom.

Widdowson, a political scientist known for questioning official narratives about residential schools, came to meet students who wanted to ask about claims of “unmarked graves.” Those claims, which became national headlines in 2021 after ground-penetrating radar surveys at former school sites, remain unproven because no physical evidence of burials has been found.

For many Canadians, the claims of “unmarked graves” were a shocking revelation, given how widely the story was reported as a settled fact.

That context alone should have been enough to spark discussion. Instead, the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg joined the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs in issuing a statement that should embarrass both schools. At institutions dedicated to study and inquiry, the instinct should be to ask more questions, not to shut them down.

At first, the statement sounded reasonable. It said the universities did not “condone violence or threats to anyone’s safety.” But that did not stop Widdowson from being roughed up by a mob at the University of Winnipeg. It would be refreshing if the universities condemned mob violence with the same urgency they condemned a professor answering questions. Their silence sends its own message about which kind of behaviour is tolerated on campus.

The bigger problem is the statement’s claim that there is a single “truth” about residential schools, known to “survivors,” and that questioning it amounts to “denial.” In reality, 143 residential schools operated with federal support for more than a century. What happened varied widely from place to place and decade to decade.

That is a subject for historical research, grounded in evidence and debate, not pronouncements about capital-T “Truth” issued by communications offices. Canadians deserve to know that history is still being studied, not declared untouchable.

Worse still was the statement’s promise to “press the Government of Canada to enact legislation that makes residential school denialism a crime.” The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is free to say what it wants. But universities lending their names to a demand that historical inquiry be criminalized is beyond misguided; it is dangerous.

Criminalizing “denialism” would mean that even challenging details of the residential school record could be punishable by law. Canadians should think carefully before accepting laws that turn historical debate into a criminal offence.

The University of Chicago’s widely praised statement on academic freedom puts it well: “the University’s fundamental commitment is to the principle that debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed. It is for the individual members of the University community, not for the University as an institution, to make those judgments for themselves.” That principle should also guide Canadian universities. Academic freedom is not a luxury; it is the foundation of higher education.

Worst of all, these positions were not even issued in the names of presidents or academic leaders. They were issued under “media relations.” Imagine being a serious scholar or scientist at one of these universities and discovering that the media office had taken a political stance on your behalf.

I know how I would feel: undermined as a professional and silenced as a citizen.

Tom Flanagan is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Calgary and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and co-editor of the best-selling book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools).

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Roger Foley has been pressured to consider euthanasia while being denied adequate care, prompting a new campaign to cover his medical costs and support his fight to return home.

Roger Foley, an Ontario man, has been forced to turn to charity after being denied sufficient care from hospitals which continue to push euthanasia on him.

On September 30, the Life Care Network launched a LifeFunder to cover medical costs for Roger Foley, a disabled Canadian who is struggling to receive support in an Ontario hospital which is encouraging him to end his life with Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD).

“Hospital staff have repeatedly offered and pressured me to consider Canada’s infamous assisted suicide program Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) while simultaneously obstructing the very services and supports I need to live safely,” Foley revealed in a write-up for the fundraiser.

“Despite my condition, I have fought tirelessly for my rights, dignity, and the ability to return to the community,” he continued.

Foley, who is well known for speaking out against the injustice of Canada’s euthanasia regime, suffers from spinocerebellar ataxia, an incurable brain disease that makes it difficult to move.

As a result of his, he requires caregivers to assist him in eating, drinking, and getting up. According to Foley, his caregivers mistreated him while caring for him at his home. In 2016, Foley was admitted to the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) in Ontario for food poisoning and has been there ever since.

Foley revealed that over the past nine years he has repeatedly been offered MAiD despite his desire to be released from the hospital and return home with the help of caregivers.

In May, Foley began enduring even more pain when the LHSC switched out the amber lights in his room for bright bulbs. Foley, who is light sensitive, is now in so much pain that he is unable to be lifted for meals.

“I can only tolerate fluids for a few minutes at a time using makeshift taped-together ski goggles. I am unable to eat solid food or take oral medications,” Foley explained.

“I live in constant pain, severe fatigue, and cognitive decline from dehydration and lack of sleep,” he continued. “Staff continue to impose arbitrary and unsafe ‘rules,’ including denying me side rails during transfers and barging in with bright lights – despite knowing it causes me extreme harm.”

Now Foley is seeking private funding for a Personal Support Worker to assist him with feeding, medication, hydration, and basic hygiene support. Life Care Network, an organization which assists vulnerable Canadians at risk for MAiD, has intervened to raise the necessary funds for Foley’s care.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews, Lino DeFacendis, founder and CEO of Life Care Network, stressed the importance of defending Foley from a medical system which appears to prioritize ending his life with MAiD over providing proper care.

“There needs to be a re-awakening that every life is precious and must be treated with true dignity and compassion no matter how difficult the circumstance,” DeFacendis said.

“Killing oneself via MAiD is never the answer to one’s problems,” he declared.

To support Foley’s medical care, please visit his LifeFunder page.