Michelle Stirling: “The rage farming that burnt down or vandalized over 200 Christian churches came from the Kamloops First Nation’s claim that 215 children’s bodies had been found in a mass grave; that human remains of children had been found. None of this was true. Though they subsequently toned down that message, even stating they were “reflecting on anomalies” last year, the damage was done. These atrocity headlines were repeated around the world and even written into resolutions of the Assembly of First Nations. And it was misinformation. CBC was and is a lead purveyor of continued misinformation and atrocity propaganda about Indian Residential Schools.”
My take. Bertrand told you to FO. What a waste of space. There never was any dead children in graves and the entire matter is a travesty. Trudeau should be jails for espousing it. For further stating that burned churches was understandable
It was not. It was wrong. Barton should be fired for telling a lie.
A couple of points. I didn’t read Bertrand as ignoring me. He sent my letter upstairs. They might ignore me. Let’s see. I purposely indicated I am not a Rebel News fan and why; that increases their obligation to respond with explanation. Secondly, there are buried children in cemeteries and everyone knows it. Just not likely at Kamloops in an apple orchard, buried by kids by moonlight. I think both Trudeau and Barton actually believed there were bodies — because it fit the “genocide” narrative. I don’t think they are lying, only mistaken; because refuting their claims is so easy to do. That’s why I wrote the letter, to add a bit of logic to make Barton uncomfortable enough to reconsider. At some point the truth will come out and be announced and heads will fall; what will she say then? “I’m sorry”? “I was mistaken and here’s how it happened”? I really don’t know. I have been completely wrong about a thing or two in my life. When I figured out the truth and how I got it wrong, I didn’t hesitate in admitting it. But it took some time.
John, I think you are missing my point, which was that there are buried children in graves in cemeteries, some of which are unmarked, but there are not likely any as alleged in Kamloops in the apple orchard. You cannot say there are no buried children anywhere. That is obviously untrue.
You wrote: “My take. Bertrand told you to FO. What a waste of space. There never was any dead children in graves and the entire matter is a travesty. Trudeau should be jails for espousing it. For further stating that burned churches was understandable
It was not. It was wrong. Barton should be fired for telling a lie.”
No problem. I am very angry at the whole situation, deterioration of the media, lies everywhere, and in this case what is basically an unjust blood libel perpetrated against Canada. This lie is especially pernicious as most of the country now believes it, and its poisoning discourse everywhere. The BC Law Society and so many other institutions keeps it going, against all reason. I don't if you follow Frances Widdowson but she is all over this and a real hero.
I will post it if they reply. On the other substack you linked, I partly agree. I definitely agree that “They (RN, TN media etc) rose because the traditional press stopped doing its job.” I do not consider Rebel News (in particular) as “independent” even though I have seen some good stuff by them on IRS, as in the case of True North also (they published the book Grave Error, which is a good book.) RN have a strong political bias that I dislike and a snarky (rude) style. And by rude I don’t mean brave. As I said elsewhere in this thread, I could have asked questions about the residential schools that would have solicited a good answer. Sometimes it does matter HOW you ask a question. It could be argued that the CBC have a centre left political bias and I think that is true. It happens because of who they hired and who they have fired. But I would not claim the CBC was as bad as Rebel News. If one was very conservative you might disagree. The difference is that CBC is attacked from both the left and the right for being biased.
Fair points. The main punchline IS indeed that the MSM hasn't been doing its job (since about 2016 in my view). Grave Error is a good and important book. Rosie Barton's comments on air cant be allowed to stand, if you don't get a reply stating they will retract, make a formal correction, please advise, I am prepared to write also.
I will go back to ombudsman and cbc more directly. I will also probably reiterate my views about Rebel News, so that the “graves” narrative isn’t deflected by legitimate critique of Rebel News.
Ok good. I am hopeful you will get a reasoned responsible reply given the undeniable actual facts on the ground, although in 2025 Canada I'd also say literally anything is also possible. Fingers crossed.
@Jerry Grant. My point is not that RN or PCDN couldn’t ask a constructive question; it’s that they don’t. Listen to the RN questions closely. First of all they are very long and full of commentary that provides context that deserves to be challenged. They are making speeches, not asking questions. Just on the “graves” issue, I’d have asked: “Legacy media, MPs and others make claims about IRS “unmarked graves” that clearly have not been proved. Would you support excavation of the Kamloops site, in particular, to clear this up? If not, why not?”
I used to believe that the CBC and The National were an army of fact based journalists who wanted to seek the truth and were proud to bring that truth to Canadians.
I don’t believe that anymore…it’s not a moment of joy in discovering the truth for me.
I agree. I do think the CBC can be better than some/many of the others but that isn’t much solace. TVO can still be very good due to Steve Paikin. The CBC political At Issue panel is still generally excellent in my view but I rarely watch CBC News.
Perhaps if anyone in other media asked the question in a more neutral way on a national platform I would have had the same objections as you do. However, there are a multitude of topics Canadians are not allowed to talk about or see reporting, or opinions on and millions of Canadians have views that are deemed untouchable or beyond the pale. The opinions don’t change just because we aren’t allowed to discuss them, in fact, when there are fulsome public conversations about controversial topics views can be challenged, minds changed and maybe more nuanced and balanced policy put forward.
Since the topics can’t be discussed when someone does ask, whether you like the way they ask or not, people are thrilled to actually hear their views presented. This f MSM had the courage to cover this stuff properly there would be no need for Rebel News and they wouldn’t have 1.7 followers.
You are making a more general point here, and I partly agree. I find much of the CBC unwatchable and I used to watch it all the time. I haven’t changed (much). I could have asked the “graves” question in a way that would have been answered, in part because I wouldn’t have been affiliated with Rebel News (which has baggage.) Similarly I wouldn’t have expected People’s Canada Daily News to have been seriously listened to, nor that their question would have been “more neutral”. It’s not a far left - far right issue, it’s a credibility non-partisan issue. The problem with the CBC is that it is less “centrist” than it used to be. I still find the “panel” excellent, except for Barton when she moderates it. Just to be clear, I see the “woke” problem as identity politics which is inherently right of centre politically. So being woke isn’t being “liberal”; it’s being illiberal in practice even if those advocating it see themselves as left or liberal. So…it’s complicated. I like liberal conservatives more than illiberal liberals.
Rebel "News" is not a news agensy, they are a registered third party advocacy group basically lobyists for the conservative party. As such they had no more business being there than any other loby group.
Their questions were loaded but the inquiry about IRS children’s bodies had some truth in it. Instead Rebel News segued that into something about “Christophobia”. So I agree their (her) questions weren’t reasonable.
I thought they were entirely reasonable. Why is it verboten to ask about Christian safety or hatred for Christians?
We may not be experiencing a lot of hate “crimes” against us but we are certainly disdained and despised by many my if not most narrative setters in Canada today. We have an official with a huge amount of funding against “Islamophobia “. Special tax breaks for minorities, special funding and grants for minorities, it is unthinkable in Canada to call out any minority in Canada aside from Jews and Christians. When this is widely accepted in any society bad things can and usually do follow.
You didn’t find the long and rambling question as loaded, in the sense that the answer was embedded within the query, like “when did you stop beating your wife?”…? It was obviously a politicized question not a journalistic question. As has been pointed out, Rebel News is registered as a politically slanted organization for the purposes of the election cycle, and therefore disqualified as a news medium. That’s not to say they didn’t present a nice poke regarding “mass graves” and “discovered unmarked graves”. But I see these as two different things: the query that nobody else dared to ask, versus their credibility as objective journalists. Unfortunately the cred issue meant their query was neutered.
I agree with you 100% .Our entire nation was vilified over the Kamloops and other residential schools claims of children being buried in unmarked graves .Canada was accused of genocide and our flag was at half mast for 6 months .Millions of dollars have been paid in compensation.All of this without one single sample of skeletal remains being excavated Rosemary Barton a known Liberal fan girl and senior CBC reporter flat out lied and she should be brought to task with a public retraction of her false statement.I applaud you for addressing this .Thankyou .
Appreciate your comment. I would suggest that Barton is not actually knowingly lying. I think she believes there are bodies, even absent any evidence, because it fits the “genocide” narrative. I think a majority of Canadians think the same, not only because of media, but because of a unanimous resolution in Parliament (yes unanimous), and because they’ve been fed a story that’s consistent with the “buried children” claim. The Kamloops band leadership is perhaps the most culpable at this point, along with supportive academics. This will not last forever; and we should all expect but also fear the backlash that will follow.
The CBC ombudsman has replied so far as follows:
Dear Robin Collins:
I write to acknowledge receipt of your email.
I have shared it directly with Brodie Fenlon, General Manager and Editor In Chief of CBC News, along with the request that your concerns be addressed.
Programmers are asked to try to reply within twenty working days.
Sincerely,
Maxime Bertrand
CBC Ombudsman
Michelle Stirling: “The rage farming that burnt down or vandalized over 200 Christian churches came from the Kamloops First Nation’s claim that 215 children’s bodies had been found in a mass grave; that human remains of children had been found. None of this was true. Though they subsequently toned down that message, even stating they were “reflecting on anomalies” last year, the damage was done. These atrocity headlines were repeated around the world and even written into resolutions of the Assembly of First Nations. And it was misinformation. CBC was and is a lead purveyor of continued misinformation and atrocity propaganda about Indian Residential Schools.”
My take. Bertrand told you to FO. What a waste of space. There never was any dead children in graves and the entire matter is a travesty. Trudeau should be jails for espousing it. For further stating that burned churches was understandable
It was not. It was wrong. Barton should be fired for telling a lie.
A couple of points. I didn’t read Bertrand as ignoring me. He sent my letter upstairs. They might ignore me. Let’s see. I purposely indicated I am not a Rebel News fan and why; that increases their obligation to respond with explanation. Secondly, there are buried children in cemeteries and everyone knows it. Just not likely at Kamloops in an apple orchard, buried by kids by moonlight. I think both Trudeau and Barton actually believed there were bodies — because it fit the “genocide” narrative. I don’t think they are lying, only mistaken; because refuting their claims is so easy to do. That’s why I wrote the letter, to add a bit of logic to make Barton uncomfortable enough to reconsider. At some point the truth will come out and be announced and heads will fall; what will she say then? “I’m sorry”? “I was mistaken and here’s how it happened”? I really don’t know. I have been completely wrong about a thing or two in my life. When I figured out the truth and how I got it wrong, I didn’t hesitate in admitting it. But it took some time.
You make me repeat this because by saying “ there are buried children in cemeteries and everyone knows it “ you parse the fiction into reality.
The “KAMLOOPS GRAVES OF CHILDREN” story is a LIE.
John, I think you are missing my point, which was that there are buried children in graves in cemeteries, some of which are unmarked, but there are not likely any as alleged in Kamloops in the apple orchard. You cannot say there are no buried children anywhere. That is obviously untrue.
I did not say “ there are no buried children anywhere “. NOT AT ALL! I said the KAMLOOPS GRAVES OF CHILDREN story is a lie. “
A lie. Your deception here is evident. Please don’t.
You wrote: “My take. Bertrand told you to FO. What a waste of space. There never was any dead children in graves and the entire matter is a travesty. Trudeau should be jails for espousing it. For further stating that burned churches was understandable
It was not. It was wrong. Barton should be fired for telling a lie.”
To be precise, that is not what you wrote. Scroll up. You did not distinguish and that was why I commented as I did.
fyi: https://michellestirlingg.substack.com/p/cbc-issues-a-correction-to-bartons
Thanks Steven. You are ahead of me on this!
No problem. I am very angry at the whole situation, deterioration of the media, lies everywhere, and in this case what is basically an unjust blood libel perpetrated against Canada. This lie is especially pernicious as most of the country now believes it, and its poisoning discourse everywhere. The BC Law Society and so many other institutions keeps it going, against all reason. I don't if you follow Frances Widdowson but she is all over this and a real hero.
Frances and I are friends.
Nice! I have yet to meet her but I love her work.
One of the most courageous people out there right now.
How do you know her, is it via academia? I see you are based in Ottawa, as am I.
Thank you for doing this. Can you please post their final reply? Here is another take I appreciate: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161625531
I will post it if they reply. On the other substack you linked, I partly agree. I definitely agree that “They (RN, TN media etc) rose because the traditional press stopped doing its job.” I do not consider Rebel News (in particular) as “independent” even though I have seen some good stuff by them on IRS, as in the case of True North also (they published the book Grave Error, which is a good book.) RN have a strong political bias that I dislike and a snarky (rude) style. And by rude I don’t mean brave. As I said elsewhere in this thread, I could have asked questions about the residential schools that would have solicited a good answer. Sometimes it does matter HOW you ask a question. It could be argued that the CBC have a centre left political bias and I think that is true. It happens because of who they hired and who they have fired. But I would not claim the CBC was as bad as Rebel News. If one was very conservative you might disagree. The difference is that CBC is attacked from both the left and the right for being biased.
Fair points. The main punchline IS indeed that the MSM hasn't been doing its job (since about 2016 in my view). Grave Error is a good and important book. Rosie Barton's comments on air cant be allowed to stand, if you don't get a reply stating they will retract, make a formal correction, please advise, I am prepared to write also.
I will go back to ombudsman and cbc more directly. I will also probably reiterate my views about Rebel News, so that the “graves” narrative isn’t deflected by legitimate critique of Rebel News.
Ok good. I am hopeful you will get a reasoned responsible reply given the undeniable actual facts on the ground, although in 2025 Canada I'd also say literally anything is also possible. Fingers crossed.
@Jerry Grant. My point is not that RN or PCDN couldn’t ask a constructive question; it’s that they don’t. Listen to the RN questions closely. First of all they are very long and full of commentary that provides context that deserves to be challenged. They are making speeches, not asking questions. Just on the “graves” issue, I’d have asked: “Legacy media, MPs and others make claims about IRS “unmarked graves” that clearly have not been proved. Would you support excavation of the Kamloops site, in particular, to clear this up? If not, why not?”
I used to believe that the CBC and The National were an army of fact based journalists who wanted to seek the truth and were proud to bring that truth to Canadians.
I don’t believe that anymore…it’s not a moment of joy in discovering the truth for me.
I am honestly heartbroken.
I agree. I do think the CBC can be better than some/many of the others but that isn’t much solace. TVO can still be very good due to Steve Paikin. The CBC political At Issue panel is still generally excellent in my view but I rarely watch CBC News.
Perhaps if anyone in other media asked the question in a more neutral way on a national platform I would have had the same objections as you do. However, there are a multitude of topics Canadians are not allowed to talk about or see reporting, or opinions on and millions of Canadians have views that are deemed untouchable or beyond the pale. The opinions don’t change just because we aren’t allowed to discuss them, in fact, when there are fulsome public conversations about controversial topics views can be challenged, minds changed and maybe more nuanced and balanced policy put forward.
Since the topics can’t be discussed when someone does ask, whether you like the way they ask or not, people are thrilled to actually hear their views presented. This f MSM had the courage to cover this stuff properly there would be no need for Rebel News and they wouldn’t have 1.7 followers.
You are making a more general point here, and I partly agree. I find much of the CBC unwatchable and I used to watch it all the time. I haven’t changed (much). I could have asked the “graves” question in a way that would have been answered, in part because I wouldn’t have been affiliated with Rebel News (which has baggage.) Similarly I wouldn’t have expected People’s Canada Daily News to have been seriously listened to, nor that their question would have been “more neutral”. It’s not a far left - far right issue, it’s a credibility non-partisan issue. The problem with the CBC is that it is less “centrist” than it used to be. I still find the “panel” excellent, except for Barton when she moderates it. Just to be clear, I see the “woke” problem as identity politics which is inherently right of centre politically. So being woke isn’t being “liberal”; it’s being illiberal in practice even if those advocating it see themselves as left or liberal. So…it’s complicated. I like liberal conservatives more than illiberal liberals.
Rebel "News" is not a news agensy, they are a registered third party advocacy group basically lobyists for the conservative party. As such they had no more business being there than any other loby group.
Rebel news did not ask any reasonable questions.
Their questions were loaded but the inquiry about IRS children’s bodies had some truth in it. Instead Rebel News segued that into something about “Christophobia”. So I agree their (her) questions weren’t reasonable.
I thought they were entirely reasonable. Why is it verboten to ask about Christian safety or hatred for Christians?
We may not be experiencing a lot of hate “crimes” against us but we are certainly disdained and despised by many my if not most narrative setters in Canada today. We have an official with a huge amount of funding against “Islamophobia “. Special tax breaks for minorities, special funding and grants for minorities, it is unthinkable in Canada to call out any minority in Canada aside from Jews and Christians. When this is widely accepted in any society bad things can and usually do follow.
You didn’t find the long and rambling question as loaded, in the sense that the answer was embedded within the query, like “when did you stop beating your wife?”…? It was obviously a politicized question not a journalistic question. As has been pointed out, Rebel News is registered as a politically slanted organization for the purposes of the election cycle, and therefore disqualified as a news medium. That’s not to say they didn’t present a nice poke regarding “mass graves” and “discovered unmarked graves”. But I see these as two different things: the query that nobody else dared to ask, versus their credibility as objective journalists. Unfortunately the cred issue meant their query was neutered.
CBC news has zero credibility (hasn't since Turdeau became PM) and won't until they are defunded by Pierre Poilievre.
I look forward to the response from Brodie Felon....
Barton has all the credibility of the Canada Bullshit Corporation.
I agree with you 100% .Our entire nation was vilified over the Kamloops and other residential schools claims of children being buried in unmarked graves .Canada was accused of genocide and our flag was at half mast for 6 months .Millions of dollars have been paid in compensation.All of this without one single sample of skeletal remains being excavated Rosemary Barton a known Liberal fan girl and senior CBC reporter flat out lied and she should be brought to task with a public retraction of her false statement.I applaud you for addressing this .Thankyou .
Appreciate your comment. I would suggest that Barton is not actually knowingly lying. I think she believes there are bodies, even absent any evidence, because it fits the “genocide” narrative. I think a majority of Canadians think the same, not only because of media, but because of a unanimous resolution in Parliament (yes unanimous), and because they’ve been fed a story that’s consistent with the “buried children” claim. The Kamloops band leadership is perhaps the most culpable at this point, along with supportive academics. This will not last forever; and we should all expect but also fear the backlash that will follow.