Proud ‘Indian’ Trustee Praises Residential Schools, Blasts the Phrase ‘White Privilege’ – FCPP
August 22, 2024
Bullies aren’t only in school playgrounds.
Manitoba school trustee Paul Coffey has been under fierce attack since his presentation Racism Anti Racism Nice Until It Isn’t during an April 24 Dauphin-based Mountain View School Division (MVSD) board meeting.
Coffey had the nerve — the nerve! — to proudly call himself and others Indian. Not indigenous. Not aboriginal. Not native. Not First Nation. Not the latest IPOC. He chooses Indian to honour his identity, heritage, and great great grandma He Zan Tan (Jane Shirley Horn), a proud Indian.
Coffey said white privilege is racist. There was “good” in residential schools. “Performative and tokenistic” land and treaty acknowledgements fuel division.
He questioned some Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) findings. He opposed posting signs in school pushing inclusivity that are “inclusive to very few but exclusive to many.”
