The University of New Brunswick Fredericton (UNBF) has recently removed racist posters found on its campus, according to a university press release.
A white nationalist group called the Nationalist Socialist Canadian Labour Revival Party (NSCLRP) has claimed responsibility for the posters.
According to the CBC, the university has discovered and removed 24 posters so far.
Michael Thurlow, who said he is the founder and chairman of the NSCLRP, said in an email that a variety of posters were put up on the walls of the university campus, in response to a series of posters on the issue of residential schools in Canada.
Thurlow said he believes the posters about residential schools posed a “threat against Canadian identity,” challenging his values and beliefs, and provoking his party to take action.
However, H.E.A. (Eddy) Campbell, president and vice-chancellor of UNBF, issued a statement denouncing the posters.
“The messages conveyed in the posters that appeared on the UNB Fredericton campus are the opinions of a small group that has no official affiliation with our university. Indeed, we hold very different views,” he said. “At UNB, we have an ongoing commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and respect. I see great strength in our diversity.”
One of the NSCLRP’s poster that was widely shared claimed that the accounts of Indigenous people about residential schools were, “based on selective testimonial accounts.”
A quote by Tomson Highway, an Indigenous author who attended a residential school, was included on the NSCLRP poster.
“There are many very successful people today that went to those schools and have brilliant careers and are very functional people, very happy people like myself. I have a thriving international career, and it wouldn’t have happened without that school,” the poster read.
Residential schools in Canada were state-sponsored schools established in the 1800s to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture.
According to the Truth and Reconcilation Committee, in total, an estimated 150,000 First Nation, Inuit, and Métis children attended Canadian residential schools, where many were abused and mistreated.
The last residential school closed in 1996 and a formal public apology by former prime minister Stephen Harper was made in 2008. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also made a formal apology in 2017.
Thurlow said the prominence of the NSCLRP in New Brunswick is fairly new, as the branch was formed about three months ago.
According to him, most of the NSCLRP members are Ontario residents, but an anonymous New Brunswick member exists.
The NSCLRP Facebook group—created in November 2017—currently has 37 members.
Matthew Sears, a professor at UNBF, told the CBC that other professors and himself have begun creating a conversation around the posters in their classrooms to ensure students are prepared to deal with incidents like these.
“We cannot pretend these attitudes don’t exist,” he told the CBC.
He said rather than focusing on the racist message, people should learn about the history of Indigenous peoples.
Campbell said in a press release that the university currently has “many efforts underway in support of change.”
He said the university is reviewing their Student Disciplinary Code, UNB discrimination and sexual harassment policies, as well as its Declaration of Rights and Responsibilities.
“We hope that the review of each of these UNB documents will provide an opportunity for respectful dialogue and debate about our academic and equity values,” he said.
