Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!
Truth: Mass Grave Hoax
Reconciliation: Redeem Sir John A’s Integrity
The sign board displaying this message outside of Councillor John Robertson’s home has made him an outcast among his fellow Murray Harbour, P.E.I. councillors, including the mayor.
Terry White, mayor of the village of 260, is calling for Robertson to be removed from his council position, and is “working to see what can be done.” Council cannot remove Robertson without provincial intervention, which White is trying to coordinate immediately.
Council also voted unanimously for a third-party investigation into Robertson and how he is using the signboard located on his own property.
“It’s the old community centre sign,” Robertson told True North.
The old sign was destined either for the regional 70 Mile Coastal Yard Sale or the dump, but at a September 2021 council meeting, Robertson bought it for $50. “It has use… there’s a life to it,” he recounted.
Generally, Robertson displays messages such as “Welcome to Murray Harbour,” “Merry Christmas,” or congratulations to a recently engaged couple.
During last year’s Freedom Convoy, Robertson displayed the first message that could be considered political: “Support the truckers.”
While the Freedom Convoy sign caused a local buzz, it didn’t get into the press – it is only now with the ‘reconciliation’ sign that everyone has gone “ballistic,” in Robertson’s words.
“It’s on my property. I own it. It’s beyond the road limit, it doesn’t contravene any laws,” he said of the sign.
“It’s within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. You can have an opinion, you can express it, and you can have your own thoughts. And I don’t consider this Council’s business.”
Robertson believes the the rural municipality’s council accepted a burden that was not theirs because of the complaints they were receiving.
“I’m right across the road, let them knock on my door… If they’ve got a problem with me, they can talk to me,” he said.
“People who support me speak to me directly and people who complain speak to the mayor.”
A local First Nations chief, Junior Gould, was sent into a council meeting to reeducate Robertson, though Robertson didn’t attend. Gould is also publicly calling for the councillor’s removal, saying Robertson’s sign was poorly-informed, disrespectful, and anti-inclusion.
Similarly, P.E.I. Senator Brian Francis accused Robertson of displaying “hateful and harmful content” and perpetuating “violence.”
“As far as the accusations go, you may wonder why I’m keeping quiet. I consider them so outrageous. So outrageous… I won’t even dignify that with a response,” Robertson said.
Though Chief Gould may think Robertson is poorly-informed, in the two and a half years since the Tk’emlups Nation of Kamloops, BC announced it had “confirmation of the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School,” no bodies have been found.
Researcher Prof. Sarah Beaulieu claimed she found a juvenile tooth and rib bone on the former residential school grounds, but the tooth turned out to be non-human and the rib bone disappeared before it was ever analyzed.
The Tk’emlups Nation, and the other First Nations that have made similar claims about unmarked graves, have only ever found soil disturbances via ground-penetrating radar.
Manitoba’s Pine Creek First Nation found 14 soil abnormalities with the radar, but an excavation only turned up rock.
However, if you bring up these facts – as Robertson was alluding to with his sign – you will be labelled a “denialist.”
And Canada’s political elites have toyed with criminalizing “denialism.”
“Urgent consideration should be given to legal mechanisms to address denialism, including the implementation of both civil and criminal sanctions,” wrote Ottawa-appointed special interlocutor on unmarked graves Kimberly Murray in a June 2023 interim report.
As for Sir John A, in recent years he has become known as “the architect of residential schools.”
“He did things that were wrong and he did things that were right, and who amongst us hasn’t?” said Robertson.
“I’m not suggesting for a moment that there weren’t problems in residential schools and the history of our country. But let’s just start with the truth, instead of this mass grave hoax that the CBC won’t let go of.”
Robertson is now going through a textbook cancellation process. The calls for removal, the third-party investigation, the reeducation sessions, the public denouncements. It’s all so sadly familiar in Canada.
“Through this persecution, I’ve strengthened my relationship with Christ. And I forgive all my enemies. I just feel so badly for the abuse the whole village is taking,” Robertson said.
“And who’s benefiting? I don’t know.”
