Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre faced criticism from political opponents Friday for giving a speech to the Frontier Center for Public Policy (FCPP), a controversial Winnipeg-based group that has been associated with efforts to downplay the effects of residential schools on children from the local population and opposing vaccine mandates.
Before introducing Poilievre on Friday, the group’s president, Peter Holle, said the FCPP was one of the “most prolific think tanks” and published articles that “might rub you the wrong way.”
Hall said the group was determined to “challenge false narratives” and claimed there was a “fake climate discussion” among the “chattering classes and commentaries”.
In 2018, the FCPP released radio ads claiming to debunk “myths” about Canadian residential schools. The ads dismissed as “myth” claims that the homes were responsible for “robbing Indigenous children of their childhoods” or the dramatic decline in Indigenous language skills.
It also published an article written by a former residential school student and FCPP research assistant that attempted to downplay the intergenerational effects of these institutions on First Nations communities.
The article, written by Mark DeWolf, criticized the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) for “spreading misinformation.”
“Acknowledging the system as bad should not lead us to exaggerate its failures, demonize it and allow it to distract us from far more serious threats to First Nations people and communities,” DeWolf wrote in his August 2018 op-ed .for FCPP.
The TRC conducted a comprehensive six-year study of the system. It concluded that physical, mental and sexual abuse was rife in the schools and around 6,000 children had died while in their care due to malnutrition or disease.
He also concluded that the home school system was a form of cultural genocide.
Shoes, toys and more were placed around the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 2, 2021 in recognition of the reported discovery of children’s remains at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia (Brian Morris/CBC)
FCPP has also published commentary articles on its website that defend research on the relationship between race and IQ. He recently published a post denouncing “anti-white male policies,” saying that such discrimination is “the only systemic discrimination there is.”
A spokesman for Poilievre said his appearance on the FCPP did not mean he endorsed “the views of anyone who has ever worked for the group”.
“Mr. Poilievre clearly disagrees with the views you indicated. We condemn all forms of racism and bigotry,” his spokesman said, adding that the CBC faced its own allegations of systemic racism from one of its unions in 2020.
Royal Indigenous Affairs Minister Mark Miller said it was “appalling” that Poilievre would “associate himself with an organization like this, especially after a day like today,” he said. He was referring to the discovery of a jawbone fragment belonging to a child at a former residential school site.
Another Liberal cabinet minister, Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal, said it was “disheartening” to learn that Poilievre had made a speech to the group and its followers.
Poilievre used a speech to blast Trudeau
Poilievre shrugged off the criticism during his Friday speech to the 500 people gathered at a conference center in Winnipeg for his appearance.
Instead, he launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, blaming Liberal policies for inflation, skyrocketing real estate prices, drug shortages for children, delays in passport processing and ongoing air travel problems, among other issues.
“He’s never going to fix them and that’s why we have to replace him with a new government that will work for the people,” Poilliever said of Trudeau in his speech. “He’s not going to solve these problems because he’s the problem.
Poilievre has promised to rein in the federal budget through a spending bill that would require every dollar of new spending to be matched by a cut for something else.
He also pledged to work with provinces to expedite the certification of foreign-trained medical professionals to fill workforce gaps in the health care system.
Poilievre said he would not shy away from his scathing attacks on the Liberal government, although, he said, the conventional wisdom from the “Laurentian elite” and “established liberal orthodoxy” was that he should soften his stance after claiming leadership in the party.
“Our system is not designed that way. Our system is deliberately designed to make the most powerful people tremble in the House of Commons,” he said.
Criticism of vaccine mandates
Like Poilievre, the FCPP has been critical of vaccine mandates related to COVID-19.
It posted online denouncing past vaccination-proof policies enforced by all levels of government as a “state-authorized invasion of our bodily autonomy.” Another post that took a similar stance called vaccine mandates “a politically expedient use of state power to attack Canadian citizens.”
Thomas Linner is the provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, a group with ties to the provincial NDP and unions. He said it was inappropriate for Poilievre to stand “next to an organization that has advocated deeply divisive and extreme positions on vaccines and public health measures against COVID-19, support for illegal and dangerous occupations of Canadian cities.”
Other Canadian politicians have appeared at FCPP events, including former finance minister Paul Martin, who spoke to the group in 2002.
Add Comment