Fired for not being sufficiently histrionic

The illiberal cancellation of Jim McMurtry

By

James Pew

“What they’ve done is they’ve given over to students the entitlement, the empowerment, to go after almost anyone else if they say they are offended.” - Jim McMurtry

On December 3, 2022, in the Western Standard, Jonathan Bradley reported on the suspension of Jim McMurtry, a teacher in Abbotsford, BC. In that report we learned that Jim had corrected the misapprehension of a student upset by headlines coming out of Kamloops, BC regarding the purported discovery of a mass grave of children outside a former Indian Residential School (IRS).

It should come as no surprise, considering the sensational nature of the media coverage at the time, that Jim’s student was under the impression that a so-called mass grave contained the remains of children that priests had tortured and left out in the snow to die.

Fired teacher Jim McMurtry

Jim corrected this by telling students, “the children who died tragically while enrolled in residential schools did so from disease, particularly tuberculosis.” 

For not mirroring the histrionics of his students and the media, and instead expressing the truth in an effort to console, Jim was informed yesterday, after the humiliation of a lengthy suspension and investigation process, that he was officially canceled. According to a report issued by the board, Jim was fired for - “...personal opinions regarding residential schools…seen in contradiction to the truth and reconciliation work that is currently underway in the District.”

But what Jim told his students concerning tuberculosis and IRS deaths is backed up by the government’s own Truth & Reconciliation Report. The image below, of a graph from the TRC report shows the causes of deaths at IRS’s. It was tweeted by Jim yesterday along with the following message:

“Fired at 4pm today by Abbotsford School District. Charged with ‘extremely serious misconduct’ for teaching residential school deaths mostly from disease, fires, accidents. Woke priesthood doesn’t like objective truth, even from the TRC Report. Thank you for your support. Goodbye.”

On November 16, 2022 journalist Michelle Stirling gave a presentation for the Alberta Prosperity Project. She showed a recent print issue of Maclean’s Magazine that featured four stories on unmarked graves and residential schools. The word “tuberculosis” is not mentioned once by any of the four authors. An inconceivable over-sight. There seems to be a deliberate campaign on the part of many different actors - activists, media, politicians, school board administrators, etc. - to ensure that only a specific narrative is permitted open discussion. Anything that disagrees with that narrative, like facts, evidence, or the actual truth, will not be recognized, and the people who bring those counter arguments forward are met with vicious hostility.

Returning to Jim. It is also worth mentioning the speed at which his initial suspension unfolded. Within the timeframe of an hour - beginning with the moment Jim spoke factually to students about tuberculosis and IRS death rates, to the moment he was humiliated in front of his students and colleagues and ushered out of the building by officials who informed him of his immediate suspension. The student’s word was taken without question. No one followed up with Jim for clarification. The complaint seems to have triggered an automatic and immediate reaction. In Abbotsford, when students say jump, the officials in charge ask, how high? 

Michael Higgins reported on Jim’s firing yesterday for the National Post. From that report:

“Apparently, McMurtry’s truth, backed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, isn’t good enough for the school district who have another, different truth.”

Michael does a good job of pointing out the faulty logic in the board's rationale for firing Jim. However, as is often the case when the topic of the IRS system comes up, even when there are good intentions to correct the historical record, the important context required to accurately portray the reality of the residential schools is sorely lacking. The same context that Jim’s students were also missing.

Here is a comment from Canadian anthropologist Hymie Rubenstein, concerning the National Post report:

“A nice characterization of the unfair treatment of Jim McMurtry but a poor characterization of the Indian Residential Schools because Higgins accepts without qualification the TRC's depiction that the schools featured ‘overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of medical care were creating a toxic breeding ground for the rapid spread of the disease.’ This ignores the larger context that school conditions improved over the decades and that the reserves these children came from were generally subject to far more "overcrowding, poor sanitation and a lack of medical care…a toxic breeding ground for the rapid spread of the disease’ than the schools. Context is everything when its comes to the Indian Residential Schools; ignoring this context distorts their functions, living conditions, and operation.”

Another comment from writer and former IRS student Mark DeWolf which was blocked from appearing in the National Post comment section. Here is that comment from Mark:

“This oft-repeated claim that the IRS students died in greater numbers than the wider population needs to be clarified. Compared to the entire Canadian population? Compared to the indigenous population? Compared to Indigenous children of the same age who were not enrolled in a residential school? By the 1950s, schools had medical assistance of various kinds. St. Paul’s IRS, where I grew up in the Fifties, had a visiting nurse and a dispensary. In ten years no student died while in residence.”

The National Post rejecting Mark DeWolf’s comment

I have been following Jim’s case from the beginning and have been in many thoughtful conversations about it. There was one comment in particular, from a Western Standard reader made in the December 2022 report mentioned above, that I felt made an important point about Jim’s situation. What this reader calls the “Native contingent,” I and other writers have called the “Aboriginal Industry” :

“The officials at the school where Dr. McMurtry taught and the Abbotsford School District officials ought to be ashamed of themselves. To be escorted out of the classroom and the school on the uncorroborated word of a student, apparently without explanation or any opportunity to respond to the allegation, lacks common sense or any shred of Due Process…Clearly the school officials have no interest in truth or dialogue, but are simply scared silly of the Native contingent. Like most every school board and politician in Canada. So much for critical thinking, search for facts, reviewing arguments and evidence, or attempts to discern the truth. Even Pontius Pilate, 2000 years ago, recognized the slippery nature of Truth. Evidently school officials in Abbotsford do not understand the nature of history, historical inquiry, or evaluation of evidence, artifacts, or arguments. They do seem to understand the current political climate however: never mind the facts, just don't tick off the Native contingent!” - Western Standard reader  mth7763 

If you are as outraged as I am by the way Jim has been treated, you can email the trustees in Abbottsford and let them know. Here are their email addresses - korky.neufeld@abbyschools.ca; mike.rauch@abbyschools.ca; rupi.kanda-rajwan@abbyschools.ca; stan.petersen@abbyschools.ca; preet.rai@abbyschools.ca; jared.white@abbyschools.ca; shirley.wilson@abbyschools.ca

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Thanks for reading. For related commentary from this author read The Frances Widdowson interview and the CBC documentary on "residential school denialism"

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