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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Conservative MP slams security officials for ignoring 2021 church burnings

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Conservative MP Dane Lloyd grilled officials from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Public Safety Canada for ignoring the torching of nearly 30 churches in the summer of 2021 on the heels of residential school grave reports. 

Lloyd questioned three officials with the security agencies during a May 12 Commons public safety committee meeting on ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE). 

“Is Public Safety currently investigating the burning of over 30 churches in Canada last year?” asked Lloyd. 

“Public Safety does not have an investigative mandate – that might be better directed towards RCMP,” said the Director General of the National and Cyber Security Branch of Public Safety Canada Lesley Soper. 

“But you said in your testimony that you were given a mandate by this government in 2021 to bring IMVE perpetrators to justice, and now you’re saying you don’t have a mandate to investigate,” stated Lloyd. 

Officials with CSIS also refused to give a straight answer as to why the church burnings were not included in its 2021 threat assessment report. 

“I just find it interesting because you do have extensive stuff in your report about ideologically motivated extremism, religiously motivated extremism, politically motivated extremism and yet 30 churches being burned down in Canada last year didn’t merit a mention,” said Lloyd. 

“Can you tell us if CSIS has ever reached out to show support and solidarity with the 30 church communities that were burned down in Canada in 2021?” 

“What I will say is that the service is always extremely concerned with any violent form of extremist activity – in this case that had already gone into the criminal realm, so the RCMP may have further comments,” said CSIS Director General of Policy and Foreign Relations Cherie Henderson. 

Lloyd responded with reference to the Morinville church fire, which saw the Alberta community’s century-old Catholic church burned down in June.

“It would be nice to have a statement of at least concern for these communities from CSIS considering the fact that at 4 a.m. in the morning in my town of Morinville over 50 people had to be evacuated from their homes because a church was burned down, and there was a massive threat that a senior’s home apartments were going to be burned to the ground,” said Lloyd. 

“This could have been one of the highest mass casualty terrorist event on Canadian soil in our modern history, and yet it doesn’t seem to have merited a single mention by our security service so I want to put that on the record.” 

Last year, True North compiled a map of the nearly 70 cases of arson and vandalism targeting churches across Canada. 

LEVY: Ottawa school trustee mocked for wanting better police response for schools

By
Sue-Ann Levy
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An Ottawa trustee was bullied, called “racist” and mocked by her woke colleagues at a Tuesday night board meeting for putting forward a proposal to have the board work more closely with police to better respond to schools and staff experiencing a surge in vandalism and attacks.

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) trustee Donna Blackburn told her colleagues that since the board eliminated the Student Resource Officer (SRO, or police in schools) program a year ago, school administrators, teachers and staff are left to call 9-1-1 or police directly if a concern or crisis arises – and wait sometimes for hours along with everyone else for police to respond.

She said the victims of violence in Ottawa schools are getting “less service” since they eliminated the program.

“We have said the police are not welcome there (on our properties) …this is not working for our students, staff and our communities,,” she told her colleagues, insisting she is speaking for the “silent and silenced” majority.

The Toronto District School Board also eliminated the SRO program in late 2017 following ongoing protests by Desmond Cole and Black Lives Matter activists.

Board officials bowed to pressure even though their own $30,000 survey showed the majority of students, staff and parents found the SROs very helpful. This support came in addition to a long list of school teachers and principals who attended a Police Services Board meeting that year and begged them to keep cops in schools.

At Tuesday’s OCDSB meeting, however, things went quickly off the rails after trustee Catherine Boothby moved to defer Blackburn’s motion indefinitely.

Boothby claimed they’d already set up a process whereby the police, the board and equity-seeking and oppressed groups were supposed to communicate collectively with each other – in alignment with the UN’s International Decade for people of African Descent and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to action.

“This motion is doing nothing but causing hurt to this community,” she said. 

She did not define what kind of hurt she meant.

OCDSB education director Camille Williams-Taylor – after tripping over her words for several minutes – did admit that conversations with the police hadn’t occurred as quickly as she had hoped. She said that access to the police was “limited” and had resulted in “significant delays” in a police response when it was needed.

“It (911) doesn’t get us the efficiency,” she conceded, indicating they’d been working on how to “reconstitute” the relationship with the police.

Nevertheless, Boothby’s motion set off a ridiculous litany of perceived hurts from the anti-police trustees.

Transgendered trustee Lyra Evans insisted that members of the community have been “hurt” by the police and everytime they reopen the debate, the community relives their “hurts.”

“Why would we knowingly cause pain to our community,” Evans said. “I’m of the opinion we punt this into space and never look back.”

Evans never said what “hurts” or “pain” members of their community are feeling.

Evans’s  partner in crime Justine Bell, another radical NDPer, reiterated that the issue of policing “brings pain to the community” every time they discuss it.

Never mind the victims of crime, of course. Bell, too, never indicated what pain the community is experiencing.

Blackburn left the meeting in frustration before the unanimous vote by the out-of-touch, self-satisfied ( and largely boomer) trustees deferred the motion indefinitely.

She said following the meeting that the people of Ottawa-Carleton should be very concerned that the left wing has taken over the OCDSB. She said she felt many of the trustees backed down on her idea after activists called her a racist for even suggesting it.

“Vandalism is not being addressed, and the cops feel so demoralized,” Blackburn said. “Certain (anti-police) trustees don’t acknowledge the violence.”

While she was surprised that her motion was so quickly stalled, I wasn’t. This has become part of a pattern throughout Ontario school boards.

Anti-police, pro-critical-race-theory and gender-ideology trustees – many of them backed by unions – have set about to deliver agendas that have nothing to do with safety or the quality of the educational experience for students.

Ontario school kids have become merely the lab mice in a dangerous social experiment. 

BC law tribunal kicks public out of hearing for lawyer accused of misgendering

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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After initially allowing observers, the British Columbia Law Society tribunal kicked the public and media out of a Zoom meeting with a lawyer facing discipline for allegedly misgendering a client’s transgendered daughter during a trial.

Carey Linde is facing an internal disciplinary trial related to his conduct in a controversial case where a father was jailed for opposing his daughter’s gender transition. 

Linde has accused the law society of issuing a “gag order” and attempting to hide information about its proceedings from the public.  

During Thursday’s meeting the society would seek an order to close a three-day internal disciplinary trial scheduled between May 16 to 18. 

“This is a most unusual step for questionable reasons. The Law Society does not want you to know what they are doing or why,” wrote Linde in a press release issued on Tuesday night. 

Although the May 12 meeting was initially open to observers, members of the public were cut from the Zoom feed within minutes of its commencement. Adjudicator Lindsay Leblanc cited her jurisdiction in the matter as a reason to order that the meeting be closed. 

True North reached out to the Law Society to ask why the public was removed from the meeting but did not receive a response in time for publication. 

Linde was first cited on Jun. 3, 2021 for three alleged breaches of conduct. Two of the citations were from his time as a lawyer in the AB vs CD trial, which resulted in prison time for the father involved after he broke a publication ban by speaking out against his daughter’s medically induced gender transition. 

The Law Society alleges Linde breached court orders by “posting on-line, causing to be posted on-line or failing to remove from on-line” items prohibited by the overseeing judge. 

Among the orders are prohibitions on misgendering the child at the heart of the case. 

In her ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Fracesca Marzari referred to misgendering as a form of “family violence” and barred the father and Linde from “referring to (his daughter) as a girl or with female pronouns.” 

The Conservative Debate was a MESS

By
Candice Malcolm
-

On Wednesday night, Conservative Party members had another opportunity to hear from leadership candidates and their vision for Canada. Unfortunately, the format of the debate resulted in a boring and largely uneventful event and many disappointed viewers.

Not only were simplistic and uninspiring questions about the candidates’ favourite books and TV shows asked, the perceived frontrunner Pierre Poilievre was forced to remain silent for nearly half of the debate. Further, candidates were given very short time periods to provide answers to complex issues. There were no winners in last night’s debate, only losers — thanks to the Conservative Party.

On this episode of the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice reacts to the disappointing debate, the format chosen by the party and the media’s unanimous disapproval.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANDICE MALCOLM SHOW

Patrick Brown would push for no-fly zone over Ukraine

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Conservative leadership candidate Patrick Brown has said he would advocate for a no-fly zone over Ukraine if elected Prime Minister – something other candidates oppose due to the risk of open war against Russia.

Brown announced the policy during the official party debate in Edmonton on Wednesday. 

“The war in Ukraine as we all know has been an unspeakable tragedy, and it continues as we speak tonight. The carnage and destruction are unimaginable. Do you support creating a no-fly zone over Ukraine?” asked moderator Tom Clark.

“Yes, I believe Canada should push and actively advocate and be part of it to show that NATO is serious, it believes in encroachments. We need to stand steadfast with our allies in Ukraine,” said Brown.

Every other candidate opposed a no-fly zone over the country, which critics have argued would drag Canada and the NATO alliance into a hot war with the Russian Federation. 

“The reason is that if we bring in a no-fly zone, it could very quickly escalate to Canada being in a war with Russia, and I’m not standing on the stage today promising to declare that war. I’m taking the responsible position that will provide the material support necessary,” said Poilievre. 

Poilievre advocated for an alternative approach which includes supplying Europe with Canadian energy to reduce the continent’s reliance on Russian gas. 

Candidate Jean Charest said that Canada could only support a no-fly zone if other NATO allies agreed on it. 

“We could only do that if our NATO allies agreed. Canada can’t do that alone. We all admit that what we need to do in Ukraine is three things. Lethal weapons for Ukraine – that’s what they need, and that’s what Canada should do. More aid and bringing Ukrainians who want to come to Canada here in this country so they’re secure,” said Charest. 

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked for his allies to institute a no-fly zone over the country to prevent further bombardments by occupying Russian forces. 

Due to the fact that Ukraine is not a member of the military alliance and the associated dangers of engaging in open conflict with Russia, NATO has turned down requests for a no-fly zone. 

B.C. dentist defying vaccine mandate calls it “the hill I’m willing to die on”

By
Harley Sims
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A British Columbia dentist who made headlines for challenging Dr. Bonnie Henry’s newest vaccine mandate is refusing to comply, telling True North, “I have no intention of letting these authoritarians pied-piper us into global communism because I have three children, and this is the hill I’m willing to die on…because I don’t see any hills after this.”

Robert Johnson of Salmon Arm, B.C also announced that he intends to run in the next provincial election, saying that the way the government has handled the Covid pandemic shows that things need to be turned around.

“It’s pretty clear that everything the government has done for the last two years has done more harm than good,” he said. “Like I said in the video, they’re either evil or incompetent, so I think we should stop listening to them.”

“There’s an opioid epidemic, a cancer epidemic, an obesity epidemic, a heart disease epidemic, a diabetes epidemic, etc. – why do we only care about covid? And why do we not care about prevention or early treatment options? Why is there only one option for addressing this problem? These are really basic questions that lots of us have been asking for two years.”

Johnson posted a video in March after the province declared it was extending its Covid vaccine mandate to include private-sector healthcare professionals, including dentists, nurses, midwives, opticians, chiropractors and many others.

In the video, Johnson challenges the bases for Henry’s health orders, especially as other countries opened up and new research showed the Covid vaccines didn’t work as promised.

 “There’s a point at which ignorance becomes malice, where it’s simply not possible to be that ignorant except intentionally and maliciously,” Johnson said.

“So, when I look at Bonnie Henry’s mandates as far as I’m concerned there is no scientific, logical, legal, ethical or moral basis for any of them. So, in my mind, that only leaves evil and incompetence, and I don’t honestly know which would be worse, but like I just said, it’s indistinguishable at this point.”

Although the government appears to have backed off of making Covid shots a requirement to practice in B.C., Henry still required these professionals to disclose their vaccination status to their regulatory colleges by April. She gave a press conference on Tuesday to publish the sector’s collected vaccination rates.

Johnson has said all along that he would not reveal his vaccination status, adding that the B.C. Dental Association should Henry “to crawl back into whichever hole she came out of.” He is also a member of Healthcare Workers United, a group of healthcare professionals including doctors and nurses who oppose vaccine mandates.

“Fortunately, it hasn’t affected my career…yet…other than having to deal with the stress of the constant threats,” he told True North. “I have several friends who are nurses and the way they have been treated is one of the most disgusting, ridiculous things I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve obviously had issues with being excluded from society – not being able to take my kids to the pool almost pushed me over the edge. I still can’t understand why anyone was ever ok with this. This never even should’ve been a discussion.”

As a healthcare professional, Johnson said he is speaking out against the government’s health orders because he “understood from the beginning that this has absolutely nothing to do with health and safety, and it’s been so painful to watch the manipulation that has gone on in the media for the last two years.”

“Privacy and autonomy are literally the two most basic, sacred, core principles of medicine and Bonnie Henry clearly doesn’t care about either,” he said. “I never, ever, refer to her as Dr. Bonnie Henry – because doctors take an oath that she has blatantly, and repeatedly, violated.”

“The other issue is the fact that no one really knows what she intends to do with this information that she is collecting with this massive privacy breach. Some of the language in that order is very concerning. She basically has declared unvaxxed people to be a health hazard, and given herself the ability to declare something an ‘emergency’ whenever she sees fit, and given herself virtually unlimited powers to deal with these ‘emergencies.’”

“I think the only emergency in this province is the fact that 5 million people have been tyrannized by one deranged lunatic for 2 years.”

Johnson also took the opportunity to thank independent media outlets like True North.

“The propaganda machine is so powerful I don’t know how we fight back,” he said. “That’s why I appreciate all of you in the independent media so much, I really feel like you’re the only hope we’ve got.”

“I appreciate you providing a platform for those of us trying to push back against the government’s ridiculous narrative. I hope there is some way to hold the government and mainstream media accountable, and I hope we can repair the fabric of society somehow.”

“I really feel like this is a cultural and spiritual battle and we need to work to correct that at the grassroots.”

GUEST OP-ED: The very first “missing” Indian Residential School student may have been found

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

After decades of fruitless searches or spurious findings, the first named child being looked for by a named relative of the “15,000 to 25,000 … maybe even more” children said to be missing by Murray Sinclair, former Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, has likely been found according to the contents of a recent CBC story.

His name is Thomas Nepinak and he was 11 years old when he died, as shown by his name at the bottom of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s (NCTR) Memorial Register list for his Pine Creek Indian Residential School and by his province of Manitoba death record, condensed as follows:

Government of Manitoba

DETAILED DEATH INFORMATION

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1944-054005

DECEASED DETAILS

Last Name: NEPINAK

Given Names: THOMAS

Sex: MALE

Date of Death: 11/01/1944

PLACE OF DEATH DETAILS

Place of Death: PINE CREEK RESERVE

USUAL RESIDENCE: PINE CREEK

Province: MANITOBA

BIRTH DETAILS

Date of Birth: 12/05/1932

Age At Death: 11

Place of Birth: PINE CREEK RESERVE

Province: MANITOBA

PARENT’S DETAILS

FATHER’S Last Name: NEPINAK

Given Names: CHARLES

Place of Birth: PINE CREEK RESERVE

MOTHER’S Maiden Last Name: CHARTRAND

Given Names: BERNADETTE

Place of Birth: PINE CREEK RESERVE

The May 11 CBC story is mainly about yet another ground penetrating radar (GPR) study, this time searching for “unmarked graves” on the site of the former Pine Creek Residential School which began on Monday with a ceremony including a sacred fire, drumming, and pronouncements by reserve elders. 

AltoMaxx staff use a drone on Wednesday as part of the ground penetrating radar search at Pine Creek First Reserve in Manitoba. (Angela McKay/Pine Creek First Nation)

The Catholic-run residential school on the Pine Creek reserve, about 440 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, was built in the 1890s and closed in 1969. The building was demolished in 1972.

Chief Derek Nepinak, a possible descendant of Thomas, said the process is a difficult but necessary one:

“We feel that the truth of our community has to be identified, and it has to be told by us, by our own people …. Our young people deserve to know the true history of who we are and our relationship with the Catholic church …. It’s not all roses. It’s been difficult and traumatic, and it’s the truth.”

Unmentioned in the CBC story is the fact that the “missing children” discovered by the inconclusive technique called ground penetrating radar all across the country since the end of May 2021 have no names attached to them, so they can hardly be called “missing.” In particular, how can thousands of nameless children be listed as missing and not have named parents or relatives frantically looking for them? Except possibly this one.

The boy’s missing status was reported to the CBC by a probable distant relative, Jennifer Rocchio, who said he was a student at the Pine Creek reserve’s Indian Residential School:

“His name is Thomas and he was 11…. He never came home from residential school, so everyone is looking forward to hopefully getting his remains so they can do a proper burial for him.”

Rocchio said Thomas had gotten into a fight with students at the school and died a couple of days later. It is likely that his cause of death was blunt force trauma or other violent injury. Since the reserve has always had its own community cemetery, is almost certain that he was interred there in a grave whose wooden cross has long disintegrated and never replaced by indifferent family members. If true, he has already had “a proper burial,” as have thousands of his “missing” peers.

Why his descendants are relying on archaic spiritual practices and Indigenous “knowings” to determine his fate instead of searching for his death records located in the archives is troubling.

Why an allegedly sovereign “First Nation” has hired a pricey GPR company with public monies to do a crude surface investigation before digging into the archives at no expense to determine the fate of the 21 “missing” children on the Pine Creek NCTR Memorial Register is even more troubling.

Chapman’s ice cream company restores equal pay to unvaccinated workers

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Canadian ice cream company Chapman’s has now raised the hourly wage of unvaccinated workers by one dollar, months after doing the same for fully vaccinated employees. 

Both categories of workers now earn the same wages regardless of vaccination status. 

In November, the Markdale, Ont. company gave fully vaccinated employees a raise to allegedly offset costs of rapid testing for their unvaccinated coworkers. 

“The $1 difference in pay was to offset the costs of rapid testing for unvaccinated employees, as those expenses were covered by the company,” said company COO Ashley Chapman. 

“Since the rapid testing program was modified at the end of the fifth Covid wave, all unvaccinated employees have been given the $1 raise.”

Chapman recently took to the media to dismiss claims by some that the company had fired its unvaccinated workers. 

She called the criticisms “misinformed” and clarified that employees had to take rapid tests twice a week and wear plastic face shields to stay on the job if they decided to remain unvaccinated. Those who refused to abide by the safety measures were placed on unpaid leave.

According to Chapman, the new measures cost the company $50 per unvaccinated worker. 

“Being accused of segregation, medical fascism and some other insane things that people have been calling us, it just seems sad, to be honest with you,” said Chapman. 

“They’ve told us we are violating the Geneva Convention and treating them as second-class citizens, which is exactly what we were trying not to do.”

The company had originally claimed the exclusive raise for vaccinated workers was a reward for having “done the right thing” by getting the COVID-19 shots. 

“It just seemed wrong we were spending that for the small amount of people who hadn’t gotten vaccinated, when we feel the people who did the right thing should be rewarded. Because it was also a bit of a slap in the face for them,” said Chapman. 

As a private company, Chapman’s was not obligated to institute a vaccine mandate by provincial or federal governments. 

Family members of euthanized Canadians say assisted dying program killed patients who could have recovered

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
-

Canadians who lost loved ones to doctor-assisted euthanasia are calling on the federal government to do more to protect vulnerable people from wrongfully accessing the program, saying medical professionals are not complying with existing safeguards.

Victims shared their stories about MaiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) at a press conference on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, hosted by Conservative Members of Parliament Michael Cooper and Michael Barrett.

Erin Smith said she and her family lived the “horrible and traumatic experience of losing (their) father through MAiD.”

Smith explained that her father contracted C. Diff (Clostridioides difficile) after being admitted to hospital after a fall. She said her father was then neglected, not given the proper medication and made to feel like he was a nuisance. 

While doctors had been planning for his discharge, Smith said a hospital staff member suggested to him that he would qualify for MAiD.  

“The MAiD team made up a diagnosis so that he would qualify, because part of MAiD is you need to have a terminal illness,” said Smith, adding that the MAiD team “told him that he had end-stage COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ), which surprised him, and it surprised us as he had never been diagnosed with this before.”

Smith said her father accepted the diagnosis because he was “very old school, where you just didn’t…question your medical professionals, and you just accepted what they told you.” 

The MAiD procedure “was booked before dad had a second assessment, so they already scheduled it, and then the procedure occurred within 48 hours of his first assessment. So it was very fast and very rushed,” said Smith.

“My dad made his decisions with inaccurate information provided to him by the medical staff. There were no specialists involved, and worst still, his family doctor was never consulted. She didn’t even know what was happening, and she did not believe that he had end-stage COPD.”

Smith said that an MRI autopsy showed her father did not have end-stage COPD.

“So why did this happen? Why was this so rushed? Why was there not a team of professionals that MAiD consulted with? My understanding was that MAiD was to be used for the terminally ill, not to get rid of people in hospital or to reduce cost of the healthcare system, in which I feel that this was the case of my dad,” said Smith.

Meanwhile, Alicia Duncan and her sister said their mother’s death through MAiD was “an example of what can happen under the current legislation regarding Medical Assistance in Dying.”

According to the sisters, their mother’s health began declining following a concussion from a car accident in Mar. 2020. They added that tests “ruled out any possible medical explanation” and that her behaviour began to shift. 

They said their mother applied and was approved for MAiD on Oct. 24 2021, and was set to undergo the procedure less than two days later.

“We believed, which was later confirmed through medical records, that she had not followed through with any recommended treatments prescribed by her general practitioner and that our mother was suffering from depression,” said Duncan.

The sisters said they received a mental health warrant to delay the death of their mother, pending a psychiatric assessment. However, they said their mother knew what to do during the assessment, given that she worked as a psychiatric nurse.

“On October 29, within hours of being released from a psychiatric unit, our mom, at the age of 61, was killed through Medical Assistance in Dying,” said Duncan.

The Duncans said that following her death they extensively reviewed their mother’s medical records and “discovered that the diagnosis for which she received MAiD had never been confirmed by a specialist.”

They have since “supported the initiation of the first police investigation into a MAiD death.”

“We are appalled that unlike many other government approvals, there is currently no independent review of a doctor’s assessment for MAiD approval,” added Duncan.

“We cannot understand how activist doctors can justify access to specialists taking months or years, yet access to dying can take just days.”

Duncan stated that her mother’s death is “a direct indication of a broken healthcare system, and killing patients who have the possibility of recovery is not the answer.”

“Our mom’s temporary suffering ended, but now we will suffer a lifetime without her.”

“Help us ensure that her death was not in vain, and our experience helps guide a legislation that protects the vulnerable,” said Duncan.

Since its legalization in 2016 following the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in the Carter v. Canada case, the issue of MAiD has remained controversial. A statutory review of MAiD in Canada is currently underway by the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying, as required by Bill C-14. 

In 2021, the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-7, which expanded eligibility for MAiD to patients with non-terminal conditions and mental illness. Critics of Bill C-7 said it removed critical safeguards meant to protect people.

Unvaccinated air cadets marked and segregated during training exercise

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Cadet and Junior Canadian Rangers has apologized after unvaccinated cadets were marked with pens and segregated at the London International Airport on May 7 before being denied the opportunity to participate in a training exercise on two different C-130 Hercules planes. 

Last Saturday, squadrons from across Ontario were bussed into London, Ont. to fly on two C-130 Hercules planes provided by the 436 Transport Squadron from Trenton. 

True North spoke with a concerned parent who said her 15-year-old son was devastated by the incident. The mother wished to remain anonymous but provided photographs of her son’s hand marked with a crossed out zero. 

“His superiors, his captains all were not aware. Everybody thought that they were able to attend, including prior to leaving Saturday morning,” she said. “They got on a bus early Saturday morning. From where I live, it’s well over two hours to get to London, so they all traveled together.” 

“What he said was that when they came – I don’t know at what point – but the bus stopped, and this army person came on the bus, and he asked whoever was vaccinated had to put their hands up. And then he asked who was not vaccinated in front of everybody to put up their hands.” 

“At some point, he got a zero marked on his hand,” she said. “So did every child that wasn’t vaccinated.” 

“Once they offloaded, they weren’t allowed to go on the tarmac where you line up to go on the flight. They then moved over to the concrete area. Being in the concrete area there behind the fence, they actually had the best view of everybody all happy taking pictures and taking videos.”

Commander of Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers, Brigadier-General Jamie Speiser-Blanchet confirmed with True North that the cadets were marked on the hand and apologized for the way the situation was handled. 

“Unfortunately, this information was not effectively communicated to cadets and parents at some squadrons. This resulted in approximately 30 cadets arriving at the aerodrome and being unable to enter the flight area and fly on the aircraft with their peers,” said Speiser-Blanchet. “To identify those cadets who could fly, Cadets and Junior Canadian Ranger staff asked for a public show of hands and marked each cadet’s hand in accordance with their status – black for able to fly and blue for able to attend the expo only.”

According to Speiser-Blanchet, the CAF is reviewing its procedures to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. While unvaccinated cadets couldn’t fly on the aircraft they were able to attend an Aviation Expo and were supervised at all times. 

“We apologize that this was not communicated in advance and for the disappointment this caused. We also apologize for how vaccination status was inadvertently identified within a group setting as staff determined who was permitted to fly. We are taking immediate action to ensure this oversight does not happen again,” Speiser-Blanchet told True North.

According to Speiser-Blanchet, the decision was taken in order to comply with federal flight regulations.

The mother said she has not been able to identify who the individual was who marked her son’s and other children’s hands.

“I’m not sure if there was a decision last minute that they weren’t allowed to go or that this was such a huge miscommunication in that case,” she said. “They all expressed being very disappointed, devastated. They felt left out, rejected. I don’t know if my son named them that or if one of the other boys did, but they named themselves the ‘reject club’.” 

Although media reports covered the familiarization flight, no legacy media outlet mentioned how the unvaccinated teens were treated. 

According to the cadet program’s Summer 2022 Vaccine Policy, overnight training exercises require all participants to be fully vaccinated to participate. 

“Cadets will show proof of COVID-19 vaccination at the time of applying for the applicable activity,” the policy reads. “Corps and squadron staff will record in Fortress that proof has been shown. Cadets must be prepared to show their proof of vaccination when they arrive at the start of the activity.”

For other in-person activities including day trips, vaccination is not mandatory. As for the cadets boarding training flights, the Trudeau government mandated on Nov. 30 that all travellers boarding domestic or international flights are required to be fully vaccinated. 

The cadet’s mother said the whole situation was not only insensitive but immoral.

“(His captain) was unaware of it in the morning so she was upset, but to me I will say that there were many adults there that day and I feel like there was so many things that were extremely wrong to do to a person, especially a youth, that it’s hard to take that in that nobody said ‘wait a minute’ at any point,” she told True North. 

“I don’t understand how this could happen and I really don’t want this to ever happen to another child in the cadet program or any other type of situation. If we did this based on other things. I don’t know why this is acceptable to ask somebody their medical status in front of their peers to humiliate them and then mark them. To tell them you have to go over here because you didn’t answer this question according to what we’ve decided now is the rule.” 

“He was really devastated, and he still is about it. He wants to quit in one sense, but in the other sense my husband’s father was a pilot, so this was his inspiration to join and get connected to him. He looks up to him so much.”

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