Purported Discovery of Hundreds of Children’s
Remains on the Grounds of Former Residential School Sites: On or about 29 May 2021 the
world learned of the “preliminary report” concerning the purported discovery of
the remains of 215 young children in unmarked graves on the site of the
former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
They were located by ground penetrating radar (GPR), a technique that
only identifies “anomalies” in the soil, not human remains. It wasn’t long before the media had universally
accepted this report as representing a confirmed discovery and universal
sadness and anger were emotions felt by readers from coast to coast. Since the “discovery” first came to light, to
the present day, it appears that no one in the mainstream media has called into question the GPR data
(blips and waves on a screen), and the assertions based on this
information. Meanwhile, Canada is
accused of “genocide”, with a liberal sprinkling of the words “colonialism”,
and “racism”, as the country descends into mourning for what might or might not
be – all on the basis of electronic data that has no merit without more in
depth explorations. The matter of the
demise of journalistic integrity will be addressed later in this manuscript.
Since the initial announcement, other Chiefs are getting
media attention by making the same unsubstantiated claim relative to finds in the
grounds around a former residential school in their neighbourhood. At this point in time Canada and the world
seems perfectly willing to accept what any Chief anywhere in Canada states on
this matter, without asking even a single question that might appear to
question the legitimacy of the claim.
For example, the second find is of 751 unmarked graves at
Cowessess, in Sasketchewan – again using ground penetrating radar. In fact, both Indigenous and non – Indigenous
people are reporting that their ancestors are buried there in unmarked graves. Most early Canadian ancestors were buried in
unmarked graves – or if they were marked by wooden crosses, the markers are
long decayed. The Prime Minister of
Canada will be visiting this Reserve ostensibly to transfer powers over child
welfare, but doubtless also due to the “shocking” news of the unmarked graves
(see here).
Doubtless much to the chagrin of many, some elders
from the Saskatchewan, Cowessesss Band who attended the school, and are
thankful for the instruction they received there, are willing to tell a very
different truth from the “accepted version”.
A facebook posting from the page of Band member Irene A. is highly instructive
(as well the comments to her posting). Below
is her posting after the Band told the media that they have found 751 unmarked
graves near the old residential school:
Irene A. – 24 June 2021
Dear Folks,
Our leaders today are
addicted to media sensationalism. I can see how the Marieval graveyard news is
causing a lot of heartbreak and emotional breakdowns.
Please listen to your
elderly folks as well.
We respected the Church, we
respected the dead. We buried our dead with a proper funeral. Then we allowed
them to Rest In Peace.
Please be aware that this
cemetery is a community cemetery with all races and ages of people buried
there.
The headstones were removed
in 1966-1967, as a first step in refurbishing as the old markers were damaged
by weather, age or animals.
The second step of
replacing the old and broken headstones wasn’t completed. Parishioners had
moved away or had passed on or were simply unable to put up a marker for
various reasons.
Please know that it is the
obligation of the family to put a marker there for their deceased. This is not
the responsibility of the government or the church.
To assume that foul play
took place would be premature and unsupported.
There is no “discovery “ of
graves. All your elders have knowledge of every grave.
The Band office has records
from the Bishops office, the Church board and from Cemetery workers who were in
charge of digging graves and burials.
The Band office received a
list of over 750 registered burials from the Bishops office.
Information is being put
out there that doesn’t recognize these facts.
So please, people, do not
make up stories about residential school children being put in unmarked graves.
No such thing ever happened.
The above was sent to the author on 5 July 2021,
who attempted to verify the posting but by then is appears to have been “pruned”,
as seen below:
Sacred Heart of Mary Parish Cemetery, Marieval Sask
Be aware that this cemetery is a community cemetery
with all races and ages of people buried there.
The headstones were removed in the oldest part, as
a first step in refurbishing as the markers were damaged by weather, age or
animals, the second step of replacing the old and broken never happened.
Parishioners were not in the area any longer, or had, themselves passed on, or
were unable to complete the headstones for various reasons. I would like to say
that it is the obligation of each family to place headstones on their deceased.
It is not the responsibility of the Church or the government.
So, to assume that any foul play took place would
be premature and unsupported.
There is no discovery, as many elders and community
members had knowledge of every grave.
The Band has records from the Diocese, the Church
Board and Cemetery workers who were in charge of burials. The Band received a
list of over 716 registered burials from the Bishop’s Office.
There is information out there that does not recognize
these facts. We need to be mindful of the facts and not jump to assumptions and
wrong conclusions.
Many town offices and church cemeteries have maps
posted for the public to study.
Oddly (or not), it appears that her above posting
to the facebook page of the Humboldt Journal newspaper had been deleted
prior to 5 July 2021, and only remained on her personal page. Then on or about 8 July 2021 it was deleted
from Irene’s personal page. This likely
speaks volumes as to the pressure put on elders who would dare to tell a story
that is contrary to the accepted “party line”.
Genocide?: The GPR findings have once again brought to
the fore the role the Crown and Canada played in the alleged “genocide” of
Indigenous people from the early days of European discovery to today. It would appear that all the “dirty laundry”
on this subject had been exposed in the “Truth and Reconciliation” report of 2015. As found in Wikipedia, Murray Sinclair, an
Indigenous former Canadian Senator, “was appointed the
chair of Canada's Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation
Commission in June 2009. The commission's mandate stemmed from the terms of the
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement as a means by which Residential
School Survivors and former staff could inform all Canadians about what
happened in Indian Residential Schools and document the accounts of survivors, former staff, families,
communities and anyone personally affected by the Indian Residential Schools
experience”. A massive
two volume report was generated, and terminology forever changed. While some stories of those who had a
positive experience are included, they are over shadowed by the ones with
“drama”. However this report has led to
the interpretation that anyone who went to a residential school is a “survivor”,
and we were told that Canada had committed “cultural genocide” in the
attempt to educate Indigenous children (see here).
So it seems that people in general have forgotten about this massive
investigation, and the fact that three years ago “survivors” were given
enormous hand outs for their “suffering” (the stories of those who had positive
things to say about their time at residential school seemed to have little
impact), then even those who attended day school on the Reserve became eligible
for cash settlements as part of a class action suit, as if what they
experienced was any different from that of other Canadians.
Despite all of the above, Canada must again be raked over the coals – as
if the GPR findings are some sort of new revelation that there were Church run
residential schools across Canada where these alleged horrors occurred. As most people realize, the “squeaky wheel
gets the grease”, and those who yell the loudest and provide their “truth”
(their stated experiences) complete with horror stories get all the
attention. No one listens to the elders,
either at Cowessess or Six Nations, who claim that their time at residential
school is recalled with fondness. So
those elders who have told of their experiences at residential school to the
author are either silenced by community pressure, or ignored – and only those
who claim to be “victims” can tell their “truth”.
Honouring the Treaties: There are constant complaints
about treaties being violated, yet ironically when a key provision of these
treaties was honoured by the Crown / Government, it is accused of “genocide”. The picture is one where the White man’s education
was forced down the throats of the “victims” and where unspeakable horrors
occurred. It appears that Journalists
and others have not read the treaty agreements, if they had there would be a
realization that the Government was following through on the wishes of the
Chiefs who signed the treaties – yet the Government is in a “no win” situation: do what was required based on the treaty and
be accused of “genocide”, or not do anything and be accused of failing to
honour the treaties.
Those who wish to read the treaties can refer to, “Canada. Indian Treaties and Surrenders from 1680 to
1890 in Two Volumes”, Ottawa, Queen’s Printer, 1891. For example, Treaty / Surrender No. 124 (as
numbered in Vol.1, p.282) is established between the Queen and the Chippewa and
Swampy Cree Tribes between Lake of the Woods (Ontario) and the Winnipeg River
and Manitoba Lake on 3 August 1871. One
of the provisions was, “And further, Her Majesty agrees to maintain a school
on each reserve hereby made whenever the Indians of the reserve should desire
it” (p.284).
The people who were part of these treaties resided
in remote locations hundreds of miles from any other settlement which had
services such as a place to purchase groceries.
There was no practical way to honour the treaty requirement for
schooling for the children except to establish a central location and have
children from far flung villages come to a residential school operated by those
with experience in such matters (i.e., the Catholic and Anglican churches) –
but on the Reserve if possible. What seems lost in the
"conversation" is that schools such as the Kamloops Indian
Residential School (where the 215 anomalies were discovered by GPR) were
physically on the Reserve and could be monitored by the parents and school
employees. The whole idea of some nefarious plan set in motion by for
example Catholic priests to bury murdered children in unmarked graves on the
site of the school makes no sense - except to conspiracy theorists. There
were too many eyes about, and no way that this could have happened without
someone "leaking" the truth. The author is a retired Registered
Psychologist, licensed in Alberta and Ontario, specializing in forensics and
neurosciences, and is providing a professional observation about conspiracy
theories that is based on 40 years of experience working in this field.
Victims, Survivors and Genocide: The purported “fact” that
victimization was endemic in the entire residential school scenario has
resulted in the use of the term "survivor" and "genocide"
as every day descriptions of what happened there. This is a grotesque
insult to those who are true survivors of genocide. Millions of Jews were
systematically murdered less than 100 years ago in the Holocaust whose goal was
complete extermination of all Jews across the planet. How is it even
remotely possible to compare the atrocities of the death camps to residential
schools? The terminology relating to the true horrors (e.g., being used
in medical experiments, starved to death, stripped naked and forced to stand
over their own grave before being shot, gassed and the bodies put into ovens
for cremation) at Buchenwald, has been appropriated and is being used in
connection with what happened at the Kamloops Indian Residential School or the Mohawk
Institute 100 years ago. It is a warped
comparison. The survivors of Nazi atrocities are in no way comparable to
the "survivors" of Indian residential schools. The genocide
carried out by the Germans surely cannot be put along side of the so - called
"genocide" of the residential schools. The original term of
“cultural genocide” from the Sinclair report above is now seldom seen and
“cultural” has been removed leaving only “genocide”. This one word has an entirely different
meaning – but is being accepted by Canadians as what the Canadian Government
did to Indigenous people – thus distorting their perception of the truth. It is perhaps surprising that the Jews who
were involved (or their descendants) have not to this point called out the
media and Native groups for using words that suggest an equivalency to what
they were forced to endure. A big difference is that the Jewish people
have moved on and are focused on the future. This is not the case with
the "survivors" of residential schools who have taken on the role of
perpetual victims and called for money, more money, more apologies, more guilt
tripping to compensate them in the spirit of "truth and
reconciliation". The Canadian Government has played the role of
enabler, offering up money, apologies, and prostrating themselves for the
supposed horrors inflicted by Canada against First Nations people. Enough is
never enough. Nothing will ever change
as long as the words “survivor” and “genocide” continue to have their desired
effect. Since no one seems willing to
challenge this conceptualizing, therefore we will have perpetual victims with
their hands out far into the foreseeable future.
Turning our attention back to the discovery of this
past spring, no reports can be believed without a shovel in the ground. In other words, a professional archaeologist
and forensic anthropologist must dig and examine the remains, if any. If human remains are found, how old were the
individuals, what ethnicity (race), and what was the manner of their burial
(coffin or otherwise). We need answers
and hard facts not weak preliminary reports based only on GPR.
The Fall Out of One Preliminary Report Versus the
Truth – A Hisorical Perspective: Who might suspect the abreaction that this
one precipitous announcement of an unsubstantiated allegation that 215
children’s remains have been located at the Kamloops Indian Residential
School that followed. It would lead
down a path where “national shame” was promulgated, and Canada Day celebrations
were either cancelled or muted due to the “genocide” and the perception of all
the little children buried in unmarked graves who never came home. If this had been true, then would the parents
and community not have realized what was going on and petitioned for an
investigation, or engaged in their own investigation – or yanked their kids out
of the school? To the inquiring mind,
things don’t add up. It is entirely
possible that children died at the school of diseases that today are unknown
(smallpox) or rare (tuberculosis) and buried in consecrated ground on
site. However, to interpret these
burials as “genocide” is wrong and a gross injustice.
The present author must ask whether anyone has
actually studied the history of residential schools in North America. During the 18th Century children
from Six Nations, Delaware, Montauk and other Tribes attended the Moor
Indian Residential School in Lebanon, Connecticut. The records typically include a note beside
the child’s name as to when and under what manner the child left the school,
and the copious correspondence includes further details (see here). In the latter case, with Mohawk children,
they all reappear in the records back home in the Mohawk Valley upon leaving
the school (Barbara Sievertsen, “Turtles, Wolves and Bears: A Mohawk Family
History”, Bowie MD, Heritage Books, 1996).
No murdered children.
In Canada, there is no evidence that any priest (Catholic
or Anglican) wanted to see their students die, or that they actually took part
in murder. Only the most paranoid mind
could come up with this interpretation – without substantiating evidence. One of the most egregious examples involves the
Mohawk Institute Residential School on the Six Nations of the Grand
River Reserve (near the City of Brantford, Ontario). It was established (on the Reserve) by the
Anglican Church during the 1830s at the request of the Hereditary Chiefs and
Clan Mothers. It ran until closed by the
Canadian Government (despite the protests of the then Chiefs) until 1970. Children who died there, and whose remains
were not recovered by the parents (or perhaps the latter requested burial
there), were buried locally but in consecrated ground. This is clearly indicated in the surviving burial
records for the Anglican Church (which the author located and published, see here). The
children were buried in the churchyard of the Anglican Her Majesty’s Chapel of
the Mohawks across the road from the school.
None of this has stopped the constant allegations
that there were other children buried surreptitiously in unmarked and
unrecorded graves. When a known
conspiracy theorist, failed in 2008 to make a successful pitch to the local
Chiefs to explore the Kamloops school grounds, he turned his attention to the
Mohawk Institute. The hoaxer produced
bone (later proven to be animal in origin) and successfully convinced the
Hereditary Chiefs to go ahead with ground penetrating radar followed up by
“well over 1000 pits” dug based on “anomalies” seen with GPR. Nothing at all found (see here). The details seem so bizarre as to be
unbelievable – but it is all true, and yet after the Kamloops announcement, the
Elected Chief at Six Nations has asked for 10 million dollars to continue the
work - despite all that was (not) found.
Meanwhile statues are vandalized and torn down
(e.g., Edgerton Ryerson, Sir John A. Macdonald. James Cook, Queen Victoria,
Queen Elizabeth), buildings with "unacceptable" names are being
renamed, memorials with for example 215 pairs of shoes are being established
based on a questionable preliminary GPR finding, people are wearing orange
shirts to show their solidarity, large orange ribbons are being placed on poles
lining main streets across Canada, many municipalities refused to celebrate
Canada Day due to the "genocidal treatment" of the First Nations (an
out and out lie), apologies are flying from every direction (but not the Pope
or Queen Elizabeth yet), Catholic and Anglican Churches are being torched
across the west, and St. John's Anglican Church on the Six Nations Reserve
(Ontario) near this author’s residence.
Canada is participating in an orgy of self – flagellation for imaginary or
unproven crimes. Who is there to question
the basis upon which this behavioural response is based? At one time it would be investigative
journalists that would peel back the layers to reveal the truth. Not so on this matter.
The Death of Mainstream Journalism as We Once Knew
it: There was
a time, not so long ago, before social media emerged to dominate the
conversations and intimidate critics, that we could depend on journalists to
keep us apprised of what was happening in the world. We trusted them to be unbiased, and even to
take risks to ferret out all relevant details, and ultimately inform us as to
what the facts were, and where the truth lay.
A classic example is to be found in early 1970s during the President
Richard Nixon administration in the United States where two reporters, Bob
Woodward and Carl Bernstein, of the Washington Post, uncovered the “web
of crimes” which resulted in the resignation of President Nixon. Their efforts stand as the prime example of
journalistic integrity and dogged determination to get to the truth.
As the 21st Century dawned, social media
(e.g., facebook, Twitter, Instagram) emerged out of cyberspace to challenge
newspapers for being the primary source of information flow to readers. Online pundits of questionable authority
emerged to present more enticing, but utterly skewed viewpoints. Generally they were not seen for what they
were – poseurs with an agenda but no background in journalism. True journalists came under increasing
pressure to compete, and thus to sensationalize their reporting, and instead of
seeking facts, to slant their reporting such that it would be more sell more
newspapers. No longer were facts and the
truth important, only what would sell newspapers. What also became increasingly important, and
peaked with the circumstances surrounding the death of George Floyd in
Minneapolis, was that it became imperative to placate and appease the
vindictive guilt - ridden White woke mob, and report only those “facts” that
would not offend their BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) allies. Any deviation from the accepted spin would be
punished by these self – righteous purveyors of “correct thinking”.
The danger to legitimate journalists was the
emergence of “cancel culture”, where journalists or even university professors who
dared cross the line and report objective facts that ran counter to the woke
agenda, would have their reputations smeared, their careers put in jeopardy,
and essentially cancelled. Thus over
time the few reporters who had been conforming to the traditional tenets of
their profession were coerced by fear to only report what was
“acceptable”. Activists from the Marxist
linked departments of Sociology and Political Science had captured the stage,
and only their views were to be heard.
Their plan to destroy any opposition was quite simple – toss the epithet
“racist” at anyone (journalist, professor) who opposed them. The present author can say this because it
has happened to him time and time again – for daring to tell the factual
truth. Today it matters not whether
there is any semblance of truth to the allegation – the mere threat of being
labelled a racist would typically keep potential opponents in line. These self - appointed adjudicators could
then make or break a career by the use of a single, very powerful, word -
racist.
In 2010 the late, and much respected, journalist
Christie Blatchford was slated to speak at the University of Waterloo about her
book documenting the suffering of the people of Caledonia, Ontario during an
insurrection by members of the Six Nations of the Grand River in 2006. Since true free speech is not a concept that
the woke / antifa / cancel culture can tolerate, the far - left element from
Wilfred Laurier University (this and York University being local bastions of
this movement) orchestrated a demonstration to keep her from speaking, and so
silence her. As quoted in JSource here:
The University of Waterloo called off a speech
by Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford last Friday night
after a small group of protesters accusing Blatchford of racism occupied the
stage.
Blatchford was there to talk about her book “Helpless:
Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us”.
As readers of her Globe column will know, Blatchford has been vocal
about the problems faced by residents of Caledonia, Ont., during the aboriginal
land dispute there.
The protesters labelled the views she expresses in
the book as racist.
Furthermore, Tallula Marigold, who was identified as the protesters’ media
representative, was quoted in the Wilfrid Laurier University student
publication “The Cord”: “We don’t want people who are really, really racist
teaching [the people we love]. And we don’t want that person to have a public
forum because it makes it dangerous for others in the public forum.”
University of Waterloo officials said they chose
not to proceed with the talk because it appeared Blatchford would not be able
to speak, and, according to Michael Strickland, assistant director of media
relations, “We also had no interest in providing a photo op of our security
dragging three people off the stage.”
So cancel culture succeeded in silencing an enemy, here
someone who was not racist as they asserted (the single most overused word to
disparage and demean and damn the person) but someone who dared go against the
prevailing assertion that the only story worth telling was about the Indian
land dispute (apparently not the domestic terrorism that went along with it).
Since 2006 there have been continuous blockades of Caledonia’s
main roads in support for any of a number of "causes". The lie
about unceded land in Haldimand County continues to cause suffering – but only
the Indigenous twist on the story gets any traction. The vandalism, the theft of for example a
school bus which was trashed, and 2 million dollars worth of heavy equipment, along
with the chaos, anarchy, arson, and tire fires, the trenching of every single
artery to the south of Caledonia (and that is just for starters) has seen
initial support for the suffering of the people of Caledonia evapourate with
the support for indigenous causes theme by all reporters. The author resides in the south side of
Caledonia and has direct personal experience with all the key events that have
occurred there.
There was a day when journalists would be the ones
to seek out facts and the truth. Today in Canada the only
"truth" is what Native groups tell them is correct - and that is what
gets printed. Numerous interviews with the "face" of the
"land protesters" in 2020 – 2021 are seen weekly in local newspapers
and television, providing false allegations as to what the Ontario Provincial
Police have done to harass them. With
two exceptions relating to The Hamilton Spectator and the Haldimand Press, nothing
has been reported about the facts of the matter despite the author presenting
them to the media - specifically that the land in question was ceded to the
Crown for sale on 18 December 1844 by 45 Six Nations Chiefs in Council. To
the credit of these sources, they did publish articles by the author (see here) and a lawyer
from Hagersville (see here). These are rare exceptions, and never seen in
media outside the local area. Copies of the original documents and
signatures have been provided. The Toronto and other city newspapers in
the "Golden Horseshoe" and beyond refuse to print anything except
sympathetic pro - Native articles and so that is what the public is fed. Where
are the journalists doing their own independent research? The research that does occur invariably
presents only what supports the Indigenous view, with any reference to the
suffering of locals being a mere aside.
So at present, it is not possible to question, for
example, whether the claim of 215 children’s remains is based on faulty
“science”. As this author has learned,
not one single journalist has stepped forward to question the findings despite
the fact that they are preliminary and fail to have any archaeological and
forensic anthropology support – this being absolutely key to validating the
claim. The mere report by a Chief of a
First Nations Band in Kamloops, British Columbia has been taken at face value
by each and every journalist / reporter in the country – despite this author’s
attempts to educate them as to the science of the matter. However, reporter Kate McCullough has come the
closest to initiating an investigation.
In an article entitled, “Residential schools: The science of searches” in the 29 June
2021 issue of The Hamilton Spectator (see here), she
interviewed Archaeologist Paul Racher who explained how this technology works,
but issued cautions. He, said “GPR is typically used as a supplement to other archeological
methods”, and further that, “It’s a really interesting technology,” he said. “The data is extremely
difficult to read and we try to be very careful with it.” Thus the first step has been
taken, and the next is to come out and say without qualification that it is not
possible to state that the remains of 215 little children have been found
without the actual excavation of the area of interest – otherwise all one has
are “anomalies”.
The present author contacted the editors and
reporters from the following newspapers:
1)
Globe and Mail
2)
Toronto Star
3)
Hamilton Spectator
4)
Ottawa Citizen
5)
Vancouver Sun
6)
Kamloops This Week
7)
National Post
8)
CBC
9)
Edmonton Journal
All letters to the editor, and opinion pieces relating
to the GPR finds submitted to the above failed to be published. A request was made that if my efforts were
not to bear fruit, then please print something, anything on a critical analysis
of the initial “report” from Kamloops.
Emails were also sent to reporters from the above media pleading with
them to explore the facts upon which this claim was based. Not one single response from anyone – it was
as if the subject was toxic.
The Growing Belief that Indigenous People Always
Espouse Just Causes and We Must Support Them: The image being promulgated by media intent on keeping readers coming
back for more, in the frenzy sell their wares to appear woke and sympathetic to
indigenous causes and the cancel culture (the truth has lost its luster in the
minds of today's journalists), is clear and consistent. Since social
media began to swamp traditional media sources clear trends emerged. One is that Indigenous causes were always
just, and supersede whatever facts might call this into question.
The accepted belief now is that unquestionably
there are callously disposed remains of little children who attended Indian
residential schools littered about all such institutions placed there by the
hand of Government and church leaders who were indifferent to their own
actions. This may make sense to some who are perpetually gullible, but
not to those whose critical thinking skills and quest to determine what is
reasonable and rational, remains intact.
It is a case of providing actual human remains that can be linked to the
Residential School, or admitting that none were found. In other words it is critical to locate solid
evidence that will support a dramatic claim, or apologize and admit that the
original finding was a false alarm. One
might question how likely the latter scenario is considering the potential
ramifications.
Update to 12 July 2021: Since the author first published this
manuscript, on 5 July 2021, three articles have come to his attention. It appears that others have been questioning
the legitimacy of the findings and the response of Canadians to a “preliminary
report”. Alas, except for the latter, these inquiries, while
excellent in content and perspective, are not from “mainstream” Canadian news
sources. Apparently we must now turn to
other news media to find “journalistic integrity”.
The first article is from Candace Malcolm of “True North”:
1) “Six things the media got wrong about the graves found near residential schools” - see here.
The second is from a publication in the United Kingdom, “The Telegraph”, written by Eric Kaufmann, a Canadian journalist –
3) "MALCOLM: It is important to bring accuracy to residential schools conversation" - see here.
