Wow, it is about time.
Five years after the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced the supposed discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the Globe and Mail editorial board has now admitted what many Canadians already knew: the newspaper and much of the media failed to apply basic journalistic scrutiny to the original claims.
Ground-penetrating radar detected soil anomalies, not confirmed human remains. Five full years later, not a single body has been exhumed or verified at the site. Yet in 2021 the story was reported as confirmed mass graves, triggering national mourning, flags at half-mast, billions in new spending, and a wave of church arsons and vandalism.
That said, good on the Globe and Mail for at least finally admitting the truth:
“[Claims that hundreds of students were dumped into unmarked graves in Kamloops and other residential schools] is an extraordinary assertion, one that requires proof.
“That should have been the starting point for the media in May, 2021, when the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation first issued a press release announcing the “confirmation of the remains of 215 children of the Kamloops Indian Residential School” through the use of ground-penetrating radar that identified subterranean anomalies.
“The media, including The Globe and Mail, did not initially scrutinize, much less challenge, that assertion. The initial headlines and stories in the media simply stated as fact that the remains of 215 children had been found. Many of those early stories, including in this newspaper, made reference to “mass graves” (a historically fraught phrase that does not appear in the Tk’emlúps 2021 press release).”
The problem is that it took half a decade. In the meantime, anyone who dared question the dominant narrative – even politely, even with evidence – was branded a “denialist,” a “residential school denier,” or worse. Major outlets, politicians, and activists treated skepticism as moral failure rather than responsible journalism. The result was a toxic groupthink that ignored basic facts in favour of emotion and political utility.
True North refused to play along. From the very beginning we insisted on evidence over hysteria. We published two Amazon bestselling books – Grave Error and Dead Wrong – that carefully examined the claims, the media coverage, and the real historical record. These books became go-to resources for Canadians who wanted truth instead of propaganda. They exposed how the rush to declare genocide and mass graves distorted history and damaged national trust.
The broader lesson here is sobering. We have to be careful to never let this sort of toxic groupthink take hold again. When the legacy media, government, and activists all march in lockstep to a narrative that reality later disproves, the damage is real: divided communities, burned churches, silenced debate, and billions wasted on symbolism instead of practical reconciliation. Journalism is supposed to question power and test claims, not amplify unverified stories that fit a preferred storyline.
Five years late is better than never, but it is still far too late. True North will keep standing for evidence-based discussion no matter how unpopular it is in the moment. If you want to understand what really happened at Kamloops and why the original panic was so badly misplaced, pick up Grave Error and Dead Wrong. Both are available right now on Amazon and remain two of the most important books published on this chapter of Canadian history.
Canada needs more institutions willing to admit when they were wrong – and far fewer willing to punish those who were right all along.
