Associate Professor Shawn Graham was interviewed by Martha Troian of APTN News. Below is a short excerpt of the article “Federal Conservative candidate gives boyfriend human skull for birthday“. The full article can be viewed online. Prof. Graham was also a guest on the Evan Solomon Show talking more about the story. (The part featuring him starts around the 23 minute mark.)
A candidate in a northern British Columbia riding has purchased a human skull as a birthday present for her boyfriend, according to a Facebook post.
Claire Rattée is running for the Conservatives in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, a huge riding held by NDP MP Nathan Cullen. It includes Prince Rupert, Smithers, Terrace and the Queen Charlotte Islands. About 90,000 people live there.
Shawn Graham, history professor at Carleton University and trained archaeologist asserts many of the human remains sold today come from the late 19th century to the early 20th century and were used for the purpose of scientific racism.
“The vast majority of these human remains being bought and sold online, these aren’t white people, and turned into commodities,” said Graham.
“An absence of law doesn’t make something morally or ethically right, just because there’s no law against it, it doesn’t mean that this is something that should be done or celebrated.”