Last year, The New York Times dropped a bombshell headline: ‘Horrible History’: Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada. As other outlets picked up the shocking story, marches, protests and riots erupted across Canada. One former Canadian minister called it “Canada’s George Floyd moment.”
But according to veteran journalist Terry Glavin, the shocking story about a mass graves wasn’t true.
And saying that—reporting that—came at a very high cost.
Terry Glavin has been a reporter for over 20 years. In that time, he’s had a particular focus on persecuted minorities. Both in faraway places like China, Afghanistan, Russia and Iraq, but also in his own backyard, where he has reported extensively on the First Nations of Canada and the abuses they have suffered at the hands of the state. So how is it that someone who has spent his career giving voice to the most vulnerable, found himself accused of genocide denial?
That’s what today’s fascinating and provocative conversation on Honestly is about. In the end, it’s about what happens when the truth no longer matters.
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Dear Bari, I feel it is unfair to call the mass grave claims a hoax. The word suggests the people who made the claims were trying to deceive the public, and there is no evidence to support such an assertion. While it may seem strange to most of us that no bodies have been exhumed, we must take into account the cultural sensitivities around respect for the deceased in Indigenous communities. There has been disagreement within the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in Kamloops about whether the bodies should even be exhumed. Remember ground-search radar suggesting hundreds of people were buried at former residential school properties was done in 2021. The Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced a plan to repatriate remains of the people allegedly buried in Kamloops on May 25, 2022 - just a day before Terry Glavin wrote his provocative piece for the National Post. In my opinion, that article was premature. Perhaps there are not 215 bodies buried there and hundreds more at other locations. But I would be shocked if there were none. One was too many. Also, this First Nation does not have to proceed according to a skeptic's timetable. They must take the feelings and well-being of families and communities into account.
If you look into the eyes of Indigenous people who speak about this issue, you see a world of hurt. Yes, the New York Times and others got it wrong by using the term "mass graves." But those errors do not negate the possibility that children wrested away from their families and home communities died at residential schools and may have been buried there. So, let's be more careful about our language and avoid calling the whole thing "a false story." This piece would have benefited from the voice of an Indigenous person. May I suggest you have a conversation with Duncan McCue, an Anishiaabe former CBC journalist and now a professor at Carleton University's School of Journalism in Ottawa.
Bari, I love the Free Press and most of the work you do. But I encourage you to seek a different perspective on this issue.
I am sorry, but why would I take an hour out of my day to listen to this? I can read this much more quickly.