For nearly two decades, Sean Carleton has focused his work on the history of Canada’s Indian Residential School (IRS) system and the ways that history continues to be challenged today.
Carleton is an associate professor in history and Indigenous studies and associate head of the department of Indigenous studies at the U of M. Carleton’s scholarship has been recognized with several national honours, most recently through his election to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2025.
Carleton’s research examines the history and political economy of settler capitalism, colonial schooling and their lasting effects on Indigenous communities. His research explores how institutions such as Indian Residential Schools, Indian Day Schools and even public schools contributed to legitimizing settler colonialism in Canada.
More recently, his work has focused on residential school denialism.
Carleton described denialism as “the wilful denying, downplaying, and distorting of the history and harm of residential schooling.” His research shows that it functions as deliberate misinformation that undermines public understanding and truth and reconciliation efforts.
His interest in this field began long before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began its work. “As a non-Indigenous, settler scholar, I took on the responsibility of researching and learning more about the history and legacy of the IRS system in 2006 to honour a family member who attended the St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Alert Bay, British Columbia,” he shared.
Growing up in North Vancouver, Carleton lived only a short distance from the Squamish Indian Residential School without realizing it. Like many Canadians, he said he knew little about residential schools or the Indigenous communities around him.
Carleton said that experience shaped the direction of his research. “I’ve spent the last 20 years trying to learn more and sharing my research into why Canada created and defended the system for over 100 years — to ensure future generations don’t have the excuse of ‘I never learned about this,’” he said.
Over the years, his research has also changed how he understands education itself. According to Carleton, studying residential schools revealed how formal schooling could be used as a tool of forced assimilation and colonial violence but also highlighted education’s potential to promote understanding and change.
“Schooling got us into this mess, but education will get us out and help us build a better world,” he noted.
That perspective also shapes his teaching at the U of M. Through courses in history and Indigenous studies, Carleton encourages students to understand the connections between Canada’s colonial past and present-day social issues.
“The [TRC] clearly showed the ongoing, intergenerational effects of the [IRS] system and how that continues to impact Indigenous Peoples but also Canadian society,” he explained.
Rather than treating colonialism as a completed historical event, he continues to explore its continuing influence on education, public institutions and relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
One of Carleton’s latest projects directly addresses efforts to distort this history. Together with fellow U of M Indigenous studies professor Niigaan Sinclair, he is co-editing a new book titled, Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism. This upcoming collection brings together researchers to examine how denialism operates and why it poses a challenge to reconciliation.
“Our hope with the book is to show readers what denialism looks like, what forms it takes, and why it is so harmful — so we can confront it and support Survivors and fight for the truth about residential schooling,” he said.
The book reflected a broader goal that runs throughout Carleton’s research, demonstrating that engaging honestly with Canada’s colonial history is necessary for building stronger relationships in the future. “Reckoning with the colonial past is not a threat, but rather an opportunity to understand the history of these lands and the original peoples here as part of the process of developing a stronger future together,” he elaborated.
Carleton’s work in this area will continue beyond the new volume. He said an upcoming project, expected in early 2027, will adapt the TRC’s history of residential schooling into a graphic novel. Created with Sinclair and graphic novelist Gord Hill, the project is intended to make the TRC’s findings more accessible to younger audiences.
“I hope that my research, in the bigger picture, can facilitate understanding and the creation of a stronger, more respectful relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canadians,” he said.
Carleton and Sinclair’s new edited book, Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism, will be published by the U of M Press on Sept. 9, with a public launch scheduled for Sept. 17 at McNally Robinson (Grant Park) in Winnipeg.
