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Thursday, July 10, 2025

GUEST OP-ED: If the money keeps flowing, there’s no stopping the lucrative search for bodiless burial sites

Hymie Rubenstein is editor of The REAL Indian Residential Schools newsletter and a retired professor of anthropology, The University of Manitoba

Since the May 27, 2021, media release by the Kamloops Indian Band of “… the confirmation of the remains of 215 children [buried in unmarked graves] who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School,” similar announcements across the country have come fast and furious.

This macabre fascination with unmarked graves and missing students quickly accelerated after the Trudeau government’s Aug. 10, 2021 announcement of $320 million “in additional [to the millions already promised] support for Indigenous-led, Survivor-centric and culturally sensitive initiatives and investments to help Indigenous communities respond to and heal from the ongoing impacts of residential schools,” including “… to research and locate burial sites as well as to commemorate and memorialize the children who died at residential schools.”

Including the Kamloops site, 34 reputedly unmarked grave sites and potential burial locales have been identified since May 2021. Nevertheless, not a single body associated with any residential school has been recovered, let alone forensically examined. Although five of the six pre-Kamloops searches found human remains, none represented missing Indian Residential School [IRS] students or other missing persons.

Joyous students and staff of the Holy Angels Indian Residential School, Alberta

Still, none of these negative findings have put a damper on more scavenger hunts for unmarked graves whose only prize has been the money earned and jobs created from the search itself along with generous funding for ancillary activities like healing and commemoration. This applies in spades to a Mar. 3, 2022 CBC story about a search at the site of a former northern Alberta Indian Residential school called Holy Angels.

This Roman Catholic school, demolished in 1974, was on the Fort Chipewyan Indian Reserve 730 kilometres north of Edmonton and is said to be the last whereabouts of 89 “missing” children representing at least four different aboriginal groups who attended the school between 1880 and 1953.

This search has just been accompanied by the burning to the ground of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Roman Catholic Church associated with the school in the early morning hours of Aug. 25, 2022. Like the dozens of Catholic and other churches that were also destroyed following the revelations at Kamloops, this was termed by the RCMP as a suspected case of arson, a reasonable assertion given the accusations of student abuse – none proven — at the Holy Angels school.

Firefighters in Fort Chipewyan respond to a fire at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Roman Catholic Church in a screenshot from a Facebook Live video shot by Chief Allan Adam on Thursday, August 25, 2022.

Both ambivalence about and bitterness towards the Catholic Church remained.  As the Edmonton Journal reported:

Plenty of elders in the community witnessed and endured physical and sexual abuse at the school. Indigenous and educational leaders in the community have said for years that trauma was passed down to other generations…. Alice Rigney, an ACFN [Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation] elder, called the church’s destruction an “attack on the community’s history.” Rigney was another survivor of physical and sexual abuse during her 10 years at the Holy Angels Residential School. She remembers cheering when she watched the demolition of the residential school, calling it ‘a place of Hell.’”

Why is this band searching for “potential unmarked graves” containing bodies of students who attended the Holy Angels Residential School when no children are being searched for by any of their relatives? How can children be missing when nobody knows their names or is looking for them?

Also, why was “An archaeological team from the University of Alberta … hired to search the former school grounds for potential unmarked graves….” when there is no evidence to suggest that students were secretly buried?

Yes, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), the successor to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) charged with reporting on the history, operation, and legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools (IRS), lists the names and date of death of the 89 Holy Angels IRS students on their Memorial Register who are said to have died at the school or within a year of their discharge.

According to the NCTR, “Following the direction provided by Survivors [i.e., any indigenous person who attended an IRS] during the community engagements held in 2018 and at the National Gathering of Elders, only the names and dates of death will be public.”

But this directive did not prevent the NCTR from publishing, in summary fashion, the cause of death and place of burial for each school as it did for the schools taken together. Not doing so helped precipitate the trauma and rage felt by indigenous people across the land resulting in church burnings like the Fort Chipewyan one.

To this day, it remains unclear how hard the NCTR has been looking for the fate of the “missing children” in publicly available archival sources. If it has been working diligently on this issue, no detailed findings have been released to the public or the affected communities since 2015. This would be unconscionable.

What is clear, however, is that whenever independent researchers like Nina Green undertook such searches at their own expense, most were quickly found “buried” in publicly-accessible federal and provincial archives, their physical remains nearly always interred in band cemeteries.

Other research has shown that so-called “students who never returned” from their residential schools were often sent home when terminally ill. If they died in the school infirmary, their remains were transported to their reserves whenever this was feasible. And if they died in a nearby hospital, they were often interred on its grounds or in a nearby cemetery if they could not be sent home.

But the best evidence that there are no missing children comes from TRC/NCTR records and from our understanding of traditional indigenous mortuary practice. 

Of the 89 memorialized Holy Angels children, only 14 (16%). died less than 80 years ago. The last student died in 1953, 69 years ago. Like most peoples, whether literate or not, the Chippewa/Ojibway/Métis/Cree ethnic groups whose children attended Holy Angels did not maintain detailed multi-generational genealogies. Together with the widespread neglect of existing reserve cemeteries full of long-decayed wooden markers that were never replaced, this helps explain why no band members are frantically looking for missing ancestors who died more than seven decades ago.

Siksika Indian community reserve cemetery, Alberta

In sum, there is no proof that any student listed on the Memorial Register for the Holy Angels or any other IRS was not appropriately buried or that their death certificates were not signed by the proper authorities. 

Nor is there evidence other than mischievous speculation rooted in ghost stories or groundless conspiracy theories of a single child murdered and tossed into an unmarked grave in the dead of night at any government-supported IRS during their 113-year period of operation.

Still, so long as the money keeps flowing, there will be no incentive to stop this lucrative search for bodiless burial sites.

Hymie Rubenstein is editor of The REAL Indian Residential Schools newsletter and a retired professor of anthropology, The University of Manitoba

Ontario school boards say students triggered by Queen Elizabeth II

Ontario school boards are claiming that students are triggered by discussions about the late Queen Elizabeth II as the province’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce orders schools to celebrate her life.

According to Global News, teachers in the York region are being told that tributing Canada’s former head of state could be “very triggering” to kids. 

A memo by the York Region District School Board claims that discussing the Queen’s death is “not encouraged.” 

“We request that school staff please refrain from developing tributes or activities to memorialize the death of the Queen, as well as displaying objects associated with the Queen for the purposes of memorializing,” the memo claimed. 

“For some, the death of the Queen is very triggering.”

Instructions included telling teachers not to play “God Save the Queen” or livestream the late monarch’s funeral “to have a break from potentially triggering media exposure.”

“Monarchies are steeped in problematic histories of colonialism which connect to ongoing present day oppression of individuals and groups. It is important to consider how each staff and student’s lived experience may potentially shape their perspective of the monarchy and be respectful of this,” the memo continued.

In response, Lecce directed the board with honouring the Queen and her role in Canada’s government. 

“We have made clear our direction that all schools are to recognize the profound impact of Queen Elizabeth II’s lifelong and unwavering devotion to public service,” Lecce told the outlet.

“I have directed this board to implement the province’s expectation, honour the Queen on the date of her funeral, and enrich students with a strong understanding of the values and enduring legacy of Canada’s constitutional democracy.”

The board has since said it will follow the provincial government’s instructions “by lowering flags and providing staff members with resources to respond to potential questions from children.”

Coutts border protester charged by RCMP

A Coutts border protester who made headlines last month when he was implicated in his friend’s conditional release has been charged by the Alberta RCMP.

Marco Van Huigenbos told True North he’s been charged with mischief over $5,000 stemming from his involvement with the Coutts border blockade.

In late August, Van Huigenbos’ close friend and fellow Coutts border protester Alex Van Herk was detained by the RCMP. Officers attempted to get Van Herk to sign a conditional release saying he would end contact with Van Huigenbos.

The condition was dropped after hundreds of people showed up to the RCMP detachment to protest Van Herk’s detainment. 

But Van Huigenbos said he knew the RCMP were coming for him when his name appeared under his friend’s conditional release. He reached out to the Alberta RCMP shortly after, he said.

Van Huigenbos said he was concerned the RCMP would place more conditions on him but with “more strategy” after seeing how things went for his friend. 

“There was definitely some concern there that they would double down on it, but thankfully they realized that there is no real reason for this condition,” he told True North.

Van Huigenbos said he’s been speaking with his friend since they left Coutts and he isn’t sure how ending communication would change things now.

There were no surprises waiting when he went to be charged on Monday. 

“It all went exactly as communicated,” Van Huigenbos said, noting there was no condition to end contact with Van Herk.

“In my mind, that was a small win,” he said. 

When Van Herk turned himself into the RCMP detachment in Fort MacLeod last month, officers told his family he would be home by dinner, but the detainment stretched into the evening as officers sought the conditional release measures that previously communicated.

Van Huigenbos said the RCMP “lied” to Van Herk and created a situation that didn’t need to happen — that hundreds of protesters showed up to the detachment to protest for Van Herk’s release. 

An RCMP officer confirmed to True North that “further charges have been pursued for Coutts.” An official release will be released Friday morning, the RCMP said.

Van Huigenbos now shares an October 4 court date in Lethbridge with Van Herk.

Quebec party leaders react to Poilievre’s landslide leadership win

Source: Facebook

The leaders of Quebec’s five major political parties addressed Pierre Poilievre’s landslide Conservative leadership victory this week in the midst of the provincial election campaign.

Like in the rest of Canada, Poilievre received an overwhelming amount of support in Quebec – winning 72 out of 78 ridings in the province.

Conservative Party of Quebec leader Eric Duhaime celebrated Poilievre’s win, saying in French that the latter “is a guy who will, I’m convinced, be a unifier.” 

Duhaime pointed out Poilievre’s French language skills and interest in Quebec, saying “a perfectly bilingual Conservative leader like him, it’s been a long time – since Brian Mulroney, I think – that we haven’t had one.”

He also praised Poilievre’s commitment to developing oil and gas and said that “Quebecers must understand that it is important to have a strong Conservative party in Quebec.” 

“When we look at federal politics, the most decentralizers in English Canada have often been on the Conservative side much more than on the side of the Liberals or the NDP,” he added.

Meanwhile, Quebec Premier and Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) leader Francois Legault, who endorsed Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives in the 2021 federal election, congratulated Poilievre but took a less celebratory tone.

When asked by the media about Poilievre’s win, Legault quickly said in French, “I don’t know him.”

Legault said that “no matter who the leaders of the federal parties are, I will continue to defend the interests of Quebec and Quebecers.”

Meanwhile, Quebec Solidaire leader Gabriel Nadeau Dubois reacted to Poilievre’s win by comparing him to former U.S. President Donald Trump.

“Most observers agree that Mr. Poilievre is part of a right-wing current of which Donald Trump is also part of,” said Nadeau-Dubois in French, describing it as “very hard right, very populist”

“The similarities between Pierre Poilievre’s political approach and that of Donald Trump are numerous,” he added.

Duhaime slammed Nadeau-Dubois for his comparaison, calling it “completely out of place” and “inappropriate.”

“Mr. Poilievre is a Canadian, he has nothing to do with what is happening south of our borders,” said Duhaime.

Quebec Liberal Party leader Dominique Anglade also congratulated Poilievre on his win, while Parti Quebecois leader Paul St Pierre Plamondon claimed a “Trudeau-Poilievre” tandem could revive the Quebec sovereignty movement.

Ratio’d | Woke TikTok suffers meltdown after Poilievre victory

Since Pierre Poilievre’s decisive victory last Saturday, woke activists stormed to TikTok to voice their collective meltdowns. From calling the Liberals the “centre-right” party, to blaming conservatives for choosing “the most extreme choice,” Harrison reviews some of the worst takes.

Also on the show, Harrison grieves at one of the most shocking incidents that happened in Ottawa this week… Green Party of Canada leader Amita Kuttner was “misgendered” at an online Green Party event.

Lastly, Harrison reviews Wednesday’s incident where Global News reporter David Akin heckled Pierre Poilievre and suffered a devastating ratio.

Tune into Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner on True North!

Steven Guilbeault says he’s ignorant of what “woke” means

Liberal environment minister Steven Guilbeault said on Thursday that he had no idea what the definition of “woke” was in response to accusations launched at him and his party by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. 

“Frankly, I don’t even know what it means to be ‘woke’,” said Guilbeault when asked to respond to the accusations. 

“Woke” is a common term used both on the right and the left to indicate an extreme preoccupation with social justice identity issues including race and gender. 

Poilievre branded the Liberal and NDP partnership as a “radical woke coalition” in one of his first speeches as leader of the party. 

“To the prime minister and his ‘radical woke coalition’ with the NDP, here’s my commitment,” said Poilievre.

“We as Conservatives are always happy to work with any party to collaborate, and advance, and extend the interests of Canadians, but … Conservatives will not support any new tax increases and we will fight tooth and nail to stop the coalition from introducing any.”

Guilbeault has a long and storied past as an environmental activist and politician that could fall within the confines of being “woke.” 

As recently as Apr. 26, Guilbeault decried what he called “environmental racism” in the House of Commons. 

Guilbeault threw his hat behind Green MP Elizabeth May’s Bill C-226 which would “address environmental racism (and) advance environmental justice.” 

“The government supports this bill. I also want to thank her for her many years and decades of activism on environmental racism because it is a thing, despite what some people, unfortunately even in the House, think,” said Guilbeault. 

Since Poilievre’s election, some sources within the Liberal party have expressed dissatisfaction with the party being seen as too woke by Canadians. 

“We must return to a federal centre, centre-right party,” one anonymous MP told the CBC. 

“We need a government that is down to earth and less woke.” 

Liberal censorship bill a “power grab” over free speech: former CRTC commissioner

A former commissioner of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) called the Trudeau government’s internet regulation bill C-11 a “power grab over human communications.” 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, former commissioner Timothy Denton testified before the Senate transport and communication committee on Wednesday. Denton is currently serving as a chair on the Internet Society and has been vocal about his opposition to the bill in the past. 

“It captures virtually all online audio and video,” said Denton. “(This bill is a) power grab over human communications across the internet and therefore deserves our distinct disdain.” 

Bill C-11 would allow the CRTC to essentially regulate what content Canadians post online. The government claims the bill’s objective is to update the Broadcasting Act, which would force big tech companies like Facebook to pay for Canadian content. However, the law has received wide condemnation as an affront to free speech by industry experts. 

“C-11 declares all audio and visual content on the internet to be broadcasts,” said Denton. 

“It’s a kind of reverse takeover of the internet. The tiny Canadian broadcasting system can take on the world of the internet by the mere trick of redefining ‘broadcasting.’ C-11 is that bold and that absurd.”

Although Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has maintained that the law would not extend to user-generated content, current CRTC chair Ian Scott admitted during testimony in the House of Commons that it would subject said content to the regulatory regime. 

“[Section] 4.2 allows the CRTC to prescribe by regulation user uploaded content subject to very explicit criteria. That is also in the Act,” said Scott. 

“The commission could, for example, issue certain rules with respect to discoverability, could perhaps issue rules…to respond to certain concerns on accessibility.”

University of Ottawa professor and chair in internet and e-commerce law Michael Geist also penned a blog post on the flaws of Bill C-11 following Wednesday’s hearings. 

“The effect of significant new regulatory costs on these (big tech) services is likely to spark one of two responses: some services will simply pass along the costs to consumers in the form of new Cancon surcharges, while others will likely block the Canadian market altogether,” wrote Geist. 

The Rupa Subramanya Show | The WEF in Chrystia Freeland’s own words

Before becoming Canada’s deputy Prime Minister and simultaneously sitting on the board of trustees of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Chrystia Freeland authored a scathing critique of the global organization and the people that attend the annual summit in Davos.

The book titled, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else writes about how plutocrats — the super-elites who sit at the top of the economic, political and social pyramid — attempt, and often succeed, in turning the rules of the game in their favour, by shaping government policy and public opinion.

The WEF Managing Director Adrian Monck told the CBC that questioning the WEF and their plans makes you a “conspiracy theorist” and that you should be doing something better with your time. If this is the case, why isn’t Freeland seen as a “conspiracy theorist” by her WEF peers?

On this episode of The Rupa Subramanya Show, Rupa discusses how voicing the same arguments that Freeland wrote in her 2012 book today will get you labeled a “conspiracy theorist” by the legacy media in Canada. How did we get here?

Tune in to the latest episode of the Rupa Subramanya Show to find out.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE RUPA SUBRAMANYA SHOW

Schulz sends supporters email pretending to be NDP supporter who’s afraid of her

United Conservative Party leadership candidate Rebecca Schulz sent supporters an email pretending to be an NDP supporter begging Conservatives not to vote for Schulz because the NDP are afraid of her.

UCP members on Schulz’s mailing list received an email from “Your Friendly Neighbourhood NDP Supporter” with the subject “The NDP’s Worse Nightmare.” The actual email address listed is [email protected].

The email is written to Conservative voters and says the UCP appeared to be finished governing until Schulz came on the scene as a candidate to take over as party leader and Premier. 

“We’re terrified of Rebecca Schulz,” the email says. “Some of us actually say she’s the NDP’s worst nightmare.”

The email says Schulz is the only candidate who has a chance of beating the NDP due to her “clean record” and “fresh perspective,” which will win in both urban and rural areas. 

“She is leading with common sense, compassion, and strong Alberta conservative values,” the email reads. “We don’t have an answer for that.”

The NDP were ready to win the next provincial election and move forward with its agenda to phase out the energy sector, blow the surplus budget and “cozy up the Trudeau Liberals,” the email continues.

“We could never figure out how to make our budgets balance,” it reads. “Trudeau told us that our budgets would balance themselves, but that strategy didn’t pan out.”

The email says the NDP thought it would win the next election but “our celebration may be cut short” because of Schulz’s candidacy. 

The Schulz campaign says the email was “clearly” from Schulz as it contains Rebecca’s logo and was sent from her email.

“The intent of the email was to ring the alarm on the possibility that the NDP will be the ones who come out as winners should we get this wrong and that is precisely what it has done,” the campaign said in a statement to True North.

“In this race, some candidates, members, and media have been so singularly focused on the legitimacy of the Sovereignty Act that we’ve missed the big picture – that the outcome of this race will impact on whether we win or hand the province back to the NDP in Spring 2023.”

The email address [email protected] is the same email listed on Schulz’s leadership campaign website. 

The email concludes by urging readers not to “click the link below” to donate to the Schulz campaign. 

“If we’re facing Rebecca in 2023, we are going to need the biggest head start possible.”

The email is signed from “Your Friendly Neighbourhood Socialist.”

The fake email campaign strategy comes as Schulz has been falling behind in the polls.  

A Mainstreet Research survey conducted earlier this month found that Smith looks poised to win the Premiership with 44% support of party backers. 

Another 20% said they backed Brian Jean in the leadership race, followed by former finance minister Travis Toews with 19%, and 7% for Todd Loewen. Schulz received 6%, Leela Aheer had 3% and Rajan Sawhney had 1%.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from the Schulz campaign.

Scotiabank fires back at Trudeau’s claim that new spending won’t drive inflation

One of Canada’s largest banks is disputing claims by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that more government spending won’t further inflation growth. 

Trudeau made the remarks while revealing an affordability and housing plan on Tuesday, which included a $2.5 billion sales tax rebate for low-income earners and $700 million to be put towards a dental-care plan among other measures. 

“We are retaining fiscal firepower and at the same time ensuring that those who need support don’t get left behind,” said Trudeau. 

“(This spending is) sufficiently targeted that we are confident they will not contribute to inflation.” 

Trudeau’s assurance that new spending wouldn’t drive inflation prompted Scotiabank to argue against the prime minister’s claims. 

“It seems sensible to assume that this will add to pressures on measures of core inflation,” economist Derek Holt told investors. 

“Any belief that it will ease inflationary pressures must have studied different economics textbooks.”

The warning comes as multiple banks including the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and the Bank of Montreal (BMO) have published statements about how additional spending could harm the economy. 

“While there are times where fiscal largesse is just what the economy needs, these aren’t such times,” wrote CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld on Friday. 

“In a period of high inflation and excess demand, cutting taxes or handing out cheques can add fuel to the inflationary fire, and make the job of a central bank that’s raising rates to cool demand all that more troublesome.”

BMO officials have also stated that printing money to help assuage inflation would backfire. 

“We’re not going to deny that there are households seriously in need of help right now in this inflationary environment,” said BMO senior economist Robert Kavcic. 

“But, from a policy perspective, we all know that sending out money as an inflation-support measure is inherently inflationary.”

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had similar concerns as Canada’s big banks, claiming Trudeau was “pouring more gasoline on the inflationary fire.”

On Tuesday, Poilievre unveiled his leadership team with the mandate to “stop Trudeau’s tax hikes and end #JustinFlation so workers and seniors can thrive.”

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