Jim McMurtry, a well-liked and respected teacher with 40 years teaching experience, a master’s degree and a doctorate in education (with a specialty in Indigenous history), was fired in February by the Abbotsford School District.
The reason for McMurtry’s dismissal?
He told Grade 12 students in Abbotsford, British Columbia, that most children in Indian residential schools were not ‘murdered’ by priests who secretly buried them in mass graves, as alleged but never proven by an unconfirmed ground penetrating radar report but rather died of disease and natural causes.
GWU! recently published McMurtry’s story in his own words and continues coverage of his battle against educational orthodoxy in our exclusive Unredacted Q and A.
GWU! Unredacted with Jim McMurtry
GWU: What were your thoughts at the time, as you were relaying the actual historical facts around Indigenous school children and how they died to your distraught students?
JM: I was nervous. I didn’t want to get into further trouble.
GWU: What are your academic credentials that make your knowledge of historical events trump the misinformed, hypersensitive political views of the Abbotsford school board?
JM: Ph.D. from University of Toronto in Educational Philosophy and many relevant publications.
GWU: You’ve called the people behind your firing “a small group of Woke Puritans, unthinking bureaucrats and power-hungry lagos.” How did this group of ideologues gain such a powerful foothold in the education system and all aspects of the political bureaucracy?
JM: Many people want equality of group outcome, as in communist Russia. Of course this leads to violence (as against the Kulaks). Equity is equality. Same Marxist thrust. Get every group at the same level by bringing down those higher up. As for many woke leaders, they’re insincere. They just use the divisive ideology from the hard left to draw attention to themselves. They’d march in any parade if it meant personal benefit.
GWU: What does the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report actually say about Indigenous schools and in your opinion, why is the general public not aware of the information?
JM: The TRC Report in its earlier volumes was fair and told of a range of experiences and nothing of murder or genocide (but there was still the infamous and unanimous parliamentary vote Oct. 27 to call these schools genocidal). Few people read government reports.
GWU: While you were on leave and actively fighting your firing, what was the media coverage like?
JM: Please Google my name or put it into Youtube, great media coverage. I was alone for three years, until Rebel News broke my story. It has now gone international.
GWU: The New York Post called the mass graves story ‘The Biggest Fake News Story in Canada’ in May 2022. Why didn’t this and other stories that began surfacing move the needle and impact the disciplinary actions that were unfolding at the time?
JM: Another very intelligent question by you. I think many school officials don’t read or stay in their information silo.
GWU: Did you find that there were teachers/friends/politicians/reporters etc. who were supportive of your situation in private but not in public?
JM: Only in private. Many people have reached out to me. No one wants to go public. Canada has become like Putin’s Russia for those who question orthodoxy or regime lies.
GWU: What signal do you think your firing sends out to any other educator who seeks to teach balanced and truthful lessons, free of political ideology?
JM: Don’t speak out! My employer in particular uses a beat-learn method. They are quick to punish. Teachers know they are walking a tightrope in teaching in some areas.
GWU: You’ve said: “I stand for freedom, children’s interests over employer’s interests, encouraging students to think for themselves, free conscience, plurality of opinion, and the open pursuit of knowledge.” In relation to that, what type of student is the current self-censored teaching style turning out and what are the implications for society when these students are eventually out of school after having been fully indoctrinated in woke ideology?
JM: Beautifully worded question. I think some students will become independent thinkers on their own, some will remain stultified intellectually and parrot party lines, and others simply too afraid to open their mouths.
GWU: You and a minority of journalists including Terry Glavin have spoken about the ‘Indigenous Industry’ What is that and what impact are the people behind it having on education and public discourse?
JM: It is a mass delusion: to think that rewriting or distorting one part of the past will help anyone. Indigenous people have real problems: lack of potable water, addiction, family dysfunction, unemployment for youth, suicide…. Focus on the real problems instead of inventing others.
GWU: What was the Scopes Monkey Trial and how was the inquisition against you similar?
JM: Teachers couldn’t teach Evolution. Today, teachers can’t teach Science (e.g., that there are boys and girls, not an infinite number of genders, or in my case that teachers in Kamloops didn’t murder 215 of their students).
GWU: What does your father, Roy McMurtry, (former Attorney-General of Ontario, Chief Justice and leader of the task of patriating the Canadian Constitution / creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms) have to say about your situation. What values and principles did he instill in you to fight your reprimand and speak out when the board tried to silence you?
JM: He is appalled. He thinks it’s madness. He taught me to love my country as it is a beacon to all others for its vital and vigorous democratic traditions. He thinks the woke are cultural barbarians, or the western version of the Taliban who blew up age-old Budda sculptures in Bamiyan in 2001.
GWU: Now that you’ve been fired, what’s next for you?
JM: I will be losing my teaching license as well. The Teacher Regulation Branch hasn’t a clue about what good teaching is and requires teachers to be woke conformists. That’s OK. I will be suing them. My point is this: I’d rather lose my livelihood than lie to my students. Sounds crazy, maybe, but being honest with students is a tacit oath that teachers take by entering through a school door.
