‘Unsavoury Denialism’: FN Leaders Want Conservative Candidate Dropped

First Nations leaders are calling on the Conservatives to drop Aaron Gunn as their candidate for North Island-Powell River because of his past comments on residential schools.

Resurfaced social media posts show Gunn denying that Canada participated in a genocide against Indigenous Peoples.

Gunn is the candidate for the seat currently held by NDP MP Rachel Blaney, who is not running this time. Electoral projection website 338Canada predicts Gunn will win the riding handily. Gunn is a social media content creator who makes YouTube videos on subjects like free speech on campus, pipelines and problems with Canadian health care.

Bob Chamberlin, former vice-Chief of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and a former federal NDP candidate, said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre needs to address why Gunn’s candidacy is being allowed to continue. Chamberlin, a member of the Kwikwasut’inuxw Haxwa’mis First Nation, said his mother and several other family members are survivors of St. Michael’s residential school in Alert Bay.

“The House of Commons spoke about this as genocide,” Chamberlin said. “The Pope spoke about the residential schools of the First Nations as genocide. And to me, it is just the most unsavoury denialism that could possibly be spoken by someone who wants to represent this riding and sit in the House of Commons.”

On Thursday, the First Nations Leadership Council added to the call for the Conservative party to drop Gunn as a candidate, saying the opinions displayed in Gunn’s tweets “are extremely harmful and divisive and should not be held by those in public office.”

In an emailed statement, the Tla’amin Nation, which is in the North Island-Powell River riding, said it unequivocally rejected Gunn as “an authority on what constitutes genocide.”

“The candidate’s Twitter history speaks for itself,” the nation wrote. “It is deeply troubling that, even after thousands of Residential School survivors courageously shared their truths across this country, individuals who minimize or deny the harms of these institutions continue to rise to positions of influence — and, more concerning still, receive public support.”

“We stand in support of Tla’amin Residential School survivors,” the nation added.

Tanille Johnston, who is the NDP candidate for North Island-Powell River, told The Tyee Thursday that she found Gunn’s comments “pretty disheartening.” Johnston is Liǧʷiłdax̌ʷ from the We Wai Kai Nation near Campbell River.

Johnston added that her application process to become an NDP candidate was “rigorous” and included providing her social media content to be reviewed by the party.

She said she wanted to know what determinations were used by the Conservative party to assess that Gunn was going to be the “ideal candidate” for the riding.

“North Island-Powell River has a very high Indigenous population that is very dedicated to reconciliation and motivating our nations to really stand up tall and strong and be drivers in a number of ways, including climate and economy,” Johnston said.

“I struggle with understanding how someone that can embody those sentiments would be able to successfully be recruited,” Johnston said.

Resurfaced social media posts from 2014 also showed Gunn coming to the defence of Vladamir Putin for “stabiliz[ing] Russia after a disastrous experiment with Western democracy.” Another comment from the same period says Gunn is “surprised at how effective the gay-rights lobby has been at influencing Western media on what is, in context, a relatively small issue,” in relation to gay rights protests at the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

In a post to X, Gunn referred to his comments about Putin and Ukraine as “foolish” and said he was “firmly opposed to Putin’s heinous and illegal actions in Ukraine.”

As of Thursday, Gunn had not made similar denunciations about his posts about residential schools. He was removed from the running for candidacy in the BC Liberal Party in 2021 for the same posts.

Gunn defended those posts on right-wing website True North at the time, writing, “It is difficult to see how any of these tweets expressed extreme or factually dubious opinions that fall outside mainstream Canadian political thought.”

Sam Lilly, a Conservative campaign spokesperson, told APTN News on Wednesday that Gunn had been “clear in recognizing the truly horrific events that transpired in residential schools, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is simply false.”

Neither Lilly nor Gunn responded to The Tyee by publication time, but at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday Gunn posted a lengthy statement to X.

"I have always been firm in recognizing the truly horrific events that transpired in residential schools, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is simply false,” he wrote. “I have never wavered in condemning these institutions of abuse, where countless First Nations suffered at the hands of a patronizing federal government. I have never wavered in condemning the theft of children from their families, or the forced destruction of Indigenous language, culture and traditions.

"Not only have I repeatedly denounced what happened at residential schools, through my documentaries I have also interviewed more than two dozen Indigenous leaders on the importance of economic reconciliation with First Nations while also highlighting the disproportionate impact the addictions crisis has had on their communities."

Campaign manager was a ‘Freedom Convoy’ organizer

The Tyee has learned that Gunn’s campaign manager for Powell River, Robin Murray, was a key local organizer for “Freedom Convoy” events and distributor of Druthers, an anti-vaccine conspiracy theory magazine that has since branched out into anti-5G and anti-World Economic Forum conspiracy theories.

Facebook posts to Murray’s profile page and various local Facebook groups show Murray posting dozens of “Freedom Convoy” memes, celebrating “Freedom Convoy” organizer Tamara Lich as a “Canadian hero” and sharing posts from former Newfoundland premier and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Brian Peckford, whom Murray helped bring to Powell River for an event in July 2022.

Peckford gave Murray special mention and space on his blog in 2023, when Murray successfully persuaded city council to issue a proclamation in honour of the anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter was commonly invoked by protesters of COVID vaccination and mask mandates.

Murray is also a spokesperson for Concerned Citizens of Powell River, a group founded in opposition to the Tla’amin Nation’s 2021 request that the city change its name. The current name honours Israel Wood Powell, a 19th-century superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs whose policies, including the potlatch ban and the opening of two residential schools, aimed to assimilate Indigenous Peoples into colonial culture.

The Concerned Citizens of Powell River invited Frances Widdowson, who was fired from her job as a tenured university professor for “espousing the educational benefits of residential schools” to town in late March to discuss the name change and her views on residential schools. Widdowson is a contributor to the book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools), which calls into question whether graves of Indigenous children actually have been found at residential schools.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented 4,117 deaths of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children in residential schools across Canada. Estimates based on survivor testimony and other information place the number quite a bit higher.

Neither Gunn nor Murray responded to The Tyee on these issues by press time.

NDP candidate Johnston told The Tyee that Widdowson’s appearance in Powell River was damaging.

“I just don’t know why or how, in an era where we are trying to get to a place where we have equality and equity amongst all persons and how they show up in the world, that you could invite and encourage and promote something so divisive and harmful in a community.”

Chamberlin said both modern ground-penetrating radar technology and survivors’ testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have confirmed the horrific truth about children dying and being buried at residential schools.

Investigations into initial results of ground-penetrating radar scans are ongoing at several former residential schools.

Chamberlin pointed out that the Conservatives have dropped four candidates during the campaign for various comments. One had said former prime minister Justin Trudeau should get the death penalty, while another had said “these people” should be deported to India to be “taken care of” by India’s hardline president, Narendra Modi.

Chamberlin said he feels Gunn’s continued candidacy shows racism against Indigenous people is still seen as acceptable or normal in this country.

“They've dropped other people from their ballot or from their party,” Chamberlin said.

“And if they don't drop this one, it's dog whistle politics to all the racists across this country.”

Health union flags Gunn’s comments

Gunn is also known for his documentaries on the toxic drug crisis, which criticize safe supply and harm reduction and emphasize treatment and recovery. These policies form part of the priorities he lays out on his campaign website.

Advocates have characterized Gunn’s positions as part of a right-wing culture war and emphasized that safer supply and other harm reduction policies are necessary to curb the high rate of overdose deaths in B.C. that occurs due to the toxicity and unpredictability of illicit drugs.

In a news release Thursday, the Hospital Employees’ Union also called on Poilievre to “clarify his party’s plans for public health care” due to comments Gunn has made about his support for increasing the role of private health care in Canada.

“Pierre Poilievre's North Island-Powell River candidate Aaron Gunn has repeatedly said he supports U.S.-style two-tier health care over the past four years,” Lynn Bueckert, HEU secretary-business manager, said in the news release.

“I really hope people can educate themselves in the candidates that are running,” NDP candidate Johnston told The Tyee.

“I can't see our riding go to the hands of a person that can spread such hate and harm so easily, consistently over years.”

This story has been updated to include Aaron Gunn’s statement on X.