News broke in May 2021 that the remains of 215 children had apparently been found at a former Indian Residential School site in Kamloops, British Columbia, through the use of ground-penetrating radar. It ignited a dramatic chain of events in which more than 2,000 unmarked graves were supposedly discovered at other former residential schools between 2021 and 2022. A media fervor began, including a New York Times expose and various BBC reports. There was even an apology from Pope Francis in July 2022 on behalf of Catholic priests involved in the old residential school system.
Others, however, have pushed back against this narrative. Three years later, no remains have been exhumed and identified, leading to justified scepticism about the initial claims. “Canada is already very far down the path not just of accepting, but of legally entrenching, a narrative for which no serious evidence has been proffered,” C.P. Champion and Tom Flanagan wrote in Grave Error: How The Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools).”All the major elements of the story are either false or highly exaggerated,” the authors argue.
Alas, some Canadians decided to play judge, jury and executioner without a fair trial and considering all the evidence. Blame has largely been placed at the feet of the Catholic Church – and houses of worship have been targeted.
So they’re burning down churches based on simple lies about those Indian graves. And yet if you were to listen to the misinformation experts it’s only the right which misinforms, right?
Further, as I’ve been pointing out. If the graves did exist this would just be normal. We’re talking about schools stretching back up to two centuries. Back when the child death rate was high – up to 50% were expected to die before puberty. It would be odd if no children died in such schools, not odd if they did.
I read this in Zerohedge a couple of months back. As usual we have a mendacious government and supine media and indeed simultaneously vice versa at the heart of this.
Trudeau could have killed this story stone dead, by sending in a JCB with live feed from CBC.
“up to 50% were expected to die before puberty. It would be odd if no children died in such schools, not odd if they did.”
Ha! Genocide committed by the Church and the bourgeoisie! It was only when they needed more workers that they stopped murdering kids!
What’s the excuse for burning down all the churches in France?
Nice of the Pope to apologise, anyway.
Simon
A chap could make a nice living in Victorian times clearing the childrens’ bodies out of the chimneys.
Otto: and burying them undocumented in unmarked graves.
With the proprietor here – either evidence is forthcoming or not. Ground-penetrating dowsing provides only index of suspicion.
Trudeau could have killed this story stone dead, by sending in a JCB with live feed from CBC.
Instead they made the use of them illegal.
Jonathan Kay at Quillette has done some good work on the Canadian story. A good summary here: https://quillette.com/2022/08/03/canadas-unmarked-graves-social-panic/
Were these Indians the red sort?
Oh, the story gets worse. They’re planning to make it actually illegal to deny that they are graves, on the same order of offense as Holocaust denial in Germany.
No actual digging up necessary.
If the Indians concerned were nomadic hunter gatherers the rate of infanticide would have been very high. Having more than one child under age three is virtually impossible in such societies.
I don’t know the age at which the children entered these institutions but it’s at least possible that the Catholic church saved many lives.
Living near the area I can confirm it’s considered equivalent to Holocaust denial, the media even prints the original number not the revised lower number after they did more review of the survey data. I mentioned that the wrong number was being used once, even that led to frowns and mutterings that it’s a slippery slope for the denialists to use
“It would be odd if no children died in such schools,”
Maybe, but would they be buried there? I suppose it depends on culture, but in many cultures a child’s body would be buried in a family grave, or a general graveyard – not at their school.
I was up in Liverpool a few weeks ago (watching the mighty Reds beat Brentford) and I parked in a school that makes a few quid at weekends renting out its car parks and playgrounds for fans to park in (£10/car, cash, no questions). I was slightly disturbed to see that said school had a memorial garden near the entrance, with headstones, flowers and all the usual paraphernalia of child death attached. All presumably of children who had died while a pupil at the school, the dates on the memorials were all teenagers. I’m guessing they aren’t actually buried there, but who knows? Its certainly grim up north……….