BREAKING: Was the federal government in contact with the Kamloops Band before the Band released the false claim that it had found 'the remains of 215 children'?
The following piece written by star researcher Nina Green, publisher of the groundbreaking Indian Residential School Records, was distributed last week to political and other leaders across the country to make them aware of the federal government’s disgraceful rush to accept the following outlandish May 27, 2021, assertion heard around the world by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc (Kamloops Indian Band) Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir:
This past weekend, with the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist, the stark truth of the preliminary findings came to light – the confirmation of the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School…. We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify. To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths. Some were as young as three years old. At this time we have more questions than answers…. We look forward to providing updates as they become available.
Three years later these “remains of 215 children” are now termed “215 anomalies,” surely a near admission that this has all been an inexcusable error or deliberate hoax.
Likewise, three years later there are still “more questions than answers,” like the careful ones Nina Green asks below about the rash acceptance by Marc Miller, then Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, and other high-ranking officials, including the country’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, of an unsubstantiated story now in tatters.
This piece is freely available for your reading. Please reciprocate by taking out a paid subscription or by distributing this important analysis as widely as you can to support my work revealing the REAL face of indigenous issues.
Was the federal government in contact with the Kamloops Band before the Band released the false claim that it had found 'the remains of 215 children'?
Nina Green
June 20, 2024
Now that the Kamloops Band has retreated, on its website, from its initial false claim that it had found 'the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School', the federal government needs to explain when it first knew of that false claim, why it accepted that false claim, and on what evidence it based its acceptance.
It was a revelation yesterday to come across this statement to Parliament by the Honourable Marc Miller on 31 May 2021, four days after the initial media release by the Kamloops Band of its false claim to have found 'the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School':
Monsieur le Président, évidemment, la douleur est palpable partout au pays et dans les communautés autochtones. Il n'y a pas une communauté qui n'est pas touchée par la situation.
Le député d'en face sera ravi de savoir que nous serons là pour les communautés. Nous serons là, d'abord et avant tout, avec les communautés, en respectant leurs désirs. Les communautés endeuillées ont besoin d'appui.
Jeudi soir et plus tard, j'ai pu parler à la cheffe Casimir pour lui assurer mon appui indéfectible au processus de conciliation et de deuil au cours des prochaines semaines. Nous serons là, avec elles, au front du leadership de cette initiative et pour tous les besoins qu'elles nous demanderont au cours des prochaines semaines et prochains mois. [bolding added]
English translation in Hansard:
Mr. Speaker, people across the country and in indigenous communities feel the pain of this discovery. Not one community is untouched by the situation.
The member opposite will be pleased to hear that we will be there for communities. Most importantly, we will be there with communities, and we will respect their wishes. Grieving communities need support.
On Thursday evening, I spoke to Chief Casimir and assured her of my steadfast support for the grieving and reconciliation process over the coming weeks. We have been in contact since then as well. We will be there with them as they lead this initiative, and we will help meet their needs in the coming weeks and months. [bolding added]
See this YouTube video here, and Hansard here.
It was a shock to learn that the Minister had been in contact by telephone with Chief Casimir of the Kamloops Band on the evening of Thursday, 27 May 2021, seemingly at the very moment James Peters of CFJC Today sent out the tweet at 4:01 PM British Columbia time (7:01 PM Ottawa time) with the story which had been given to him as a 'scoop' by the Kamloops Band.
But were the Kamloops Band and the federal government in contact earlier than that? Telephone calls by Ministers usually take several days to arrange. It thus seems almost certain that the federal government knew in advance of the Kamloops Band's planned media release on 27 May 2021 with its false claim that it had discovered 'the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School'.
That raises the obvious question: if the federal government knew in advance of the Kamloops Band's planned media release on 27 May 2021, on what evidence (if any) did the federal government accept the false claim by the Kamloops Band that it had found 'the remains of 215 children'? Did the Kamloops Band provide the federal government with a copy of Dr. Sarah Beaulieu's written GPR report as verification of its claim before the Band went ahead with its media release? If not, why not? And if the Kamloops Band did give the federal government a copy of Dr. Beaulieu's written GPR report in advance of its 27 May 2021 media release, why has the federal government not made Dr. Beaulieu's written report public so that the media and the Canadian public can see what is actually in it? Does Dr. Beaulieu's written GPR report support what the Kamloops Band falsely claimed for three years, and has now retracted, now claiming that all that was found were '215 anomalies'?
Moreover, why has the federal government allowed the media to be castigated for getting the story wrong and falsely claiming that a 'mass grave' had been found when in fact the Canadian Heritage Minister himself, the Honourable Stephen Guilbeault, told the Senate on 3 June 2021 that a 'mass grave in British Columbia containing the bodies of 215 children, victims of residential schools' had been found:
Hon. Steven Guilbeault, P.C., M.P., Minister of Canadian Heritage: Honourable senators, thank you for having me. I am appearing here today to speak to Bill C-5, an important bill that seeks to create a new federal statutory holiday, the national day for truth and reconciliation. I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are all here on the ancestral land of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. These are not just some introductory words that we say. They are an essential recognition as we build a new relationship with Indigenous peoples through our daily actions.
The recent discovery of a mass grave in British Columbia containing the bodies of 215 children, victims of the residential schools, is a harsh reminder of the terrible legacy of our colonial past. [boldface added]
Why has the federal government allowed the media to be the whipping boy for getting the story wrong when the federal government appears to have been in contact with the Kamloops Band prior to the media release which rocked the world on 27 May 2021, and apparently did nothing to verify the story before the Kamloops Band unleashed it?
When were the federal government and the Kamloops Band, or persons acting on behalf of the Kamloops Band, first in contact with respect to the Kamloops GPR 'discovery'?
And why did Murray Sinclair, in comments to a Parliamentary Committee on 3 June 2021, stymie the RCMP investigation in Kamloops under an Indigenous RCMP Superintendent, Sydney Lecky, which would have caused the Kamloops Band to retract, in a few days, a false claim which it has now taken the Band three years to retract — a delay which has inflicted incalculable damage on Canada's reputation and has cost Canadian taxpayers billions of dollars?
Those questions need to be investigated. The Canadian public deserves answers.
Basically, this story has slandered all Canadians. But it must be causing incredible harm to those who worked at the schools and their families. They are essentially being equated to the guards at Dachau and Auschwitz. It has created a stain on their families that will not be erased for generations.
They are the people who are owed an apology.
The Perpetrators of this despicable falsehood MUST be held to account to mittagate as much as possible the almost irreparable damage to Canada's reputation and race relations in this country. This is no trifling matter givin the damage it has caused and continues to cause as the false narrative not only still persists but is even taught and supported by our school system as well as politcians, media and activists). The first word in "Truth and Reconsileation " is "Truth". Without "Truth" there can never be much needed "Reconsileation " as evidenced by the hate, arson and vandalism this henious lie spawned May 27, 2021.