Remove Aaron Gunn as the candidate for North Island—Powell River

A residential school apologist with a history of sexist and transphobic positions is running for the Conservatives in North Island—Powell River — and the polls have him in the lead. 

Conservative candidate Aaron Gunn is making national headlines for publicly stating that Canada’s residential school system, which claimed the lives of thousands of Indigenous children through its hundred-year history, did not constitute a genocide. 

Despite the fact that regional Indigenous leadership and 57 and growing names of local mayors and councillors in the riding have called for his removal, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is defending Aaron Gunn’s statements. It is unacceptable for a prospective Member of Parliament to dispute the facts of Canada’s colonial history.

The trauma of residential schools still lives on in many Indigenous communities. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought to light the dark history of Canada’s residential schools as sites of rampant abuse, designed to erase Indigenous cultures, where children were torn from their families, stripped of their languages, and subjected to systemic harm.

But now, Aaron Gunn is making a mockery of that truth in a cynical attempt to buy votes from his far-right base. 

We the undersigned call on Pierre Poilievre to immediately remove Aaron Gunn as the Conservative candidate for North-Island—Powell River.

Sources:
[1] Open Letter to CPC, https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1yn1znTrv3ZYF_WDVIZhy5rncPAq_vlZpyrdJuf00z0A/mobilebasic?usp=embed_facebook&urp=gmail_link