Most of the attention on the subject of indigenous education in the last three decades has been on residential schools. But other aspects of this important topic have been ignored. Quite simply, the real tragedy of indigenous education is not that some indigenous...
Residential Schools
Chief Dan George (Geswanouth Slahoot) 1899-1981
Most people have heroes, people in history or people still living, people who inspire, evoke strong feelings of admiration, respect, love. High on my list of heroes is Geswanouth Slahoot, aka Chief Dan George. The more I learn about him, the higher his name climbs. A...
What is Missing From the Missing Children’s Story at Indian Residential Schools?
From Truth Comes Reconciliation
Two-Eyed Seeing and Indigenous Worldviews. Can There Be Many Truths?
Recently, an Indigenous acquaintance asked me if I had ever taken a course or training on understanding Indigenous worldviews or perspectives. He also asked if I had ever tried incorporating two-eyed seeing into my life and thought processes. My correspondent feels it...
Featured News
There’s Nothing Fair About Canadian Health Care
For the past 14 years, Vancouver surgeon Dr. Brian Day has led the charge for health-care reform, pushing for the right of patients to pay for private care if their health and well-being are threatened as a result of waiting in a stagnant and overburdened public...
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
The path to net zero, based on the much disputed belief that carbon dioxide is a pollution, is more steep and impractical than most people realize. Replacing fossil fuels with clean electricity will require much more power generation and a greatly upgraded grid to...
Our Children Are Being Misinformed
I regularly drive by an elementary school. Like many Canadian schools its fence is festooned with 215 orange plastic ribbons, signifying the 215 Kamloops residential school students who are alleged to have met their death by foul means, and were then secretly buried...
Archaeologist’s Claims Of Genocide And Neglect At Residential Schools Easily Debunked
It is easy to separate the facts from the myths about “genocide” allegations at Indigenous residential schools. Just read the TRC report
The RCMP Failed Canadians at Kamloops
The RCMP has a long and honourable history, and has served Canadians well. RCMP top brass and regular officers have always insisted on doing their job in their own way. They have robustly specifically resisted all attempts by politicians to interfere in their clear...
Leaders on the Frontier – Can We Really Erase History? With Gerry Bowler
Where does this toxic ideology of wanting to re-write history to atone for the sins of the past come from? Does anything truly matter when the narrative is more important than truth? Gerry Bowler and host David Leis discuss the value of a collective history and the great dangers in ignoring, erasing and revising history the way revolutionary movements desire to do, noting the ways this is prevalent in Canada today.
A Dangerous Attempt To Shut Down Free Enquiry
An early 20th century photo of the cemetery associated with the St. Mary’s IRS, Kenora, Ontario, showing wooden grave markers of students that were allowed to disintegrate over time, proving that students were given a proper Christian (Catholic) burial. "We...
The Kamloops Conspiracy Theory
Two years ago Canadians bought into what was probably the biggest conspiracy theory ever promulgated in this country. Members of the Kamloops indigenous community made the astounding claim that 215 graves, containing the remains of students of the former Kamloops...
NCTR Admits Claim of Thousands Buried in Unmarked Graves a Hoax
In a Globe and Mail article on 5 May 2023 the National Centre For Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) finally publicly admitted that its Memorial Register is not a list of thousands of missing children buried in unmarked graves. It turns out the entire claim of thousands...
The Dangerous Allure of Omitting Facts and Historical Context on Residential Schools
Michelle Cyca’s article in The Walrus about residential school denialism of May 4, 2023, gets one thing right. She mentions tuberculosis. Once. Like many who write about those who suffered at residential schools, Cyca seems oblivious to the context of the times – in...
‘A Children’s Way’ – Cancelling Bishop Grandin
Winnipeg City Hall recently proclaimed that Bishop Grandin Boulevard, Bishop Grandin Trail, and Grandin Street will be renamed, respectively, Abinojii Mikanah (Ojibway for 'A Children's Way'), Awisasak Meskanow (Cree for 'A Children's Way'), and Taapeewin Way (Michif...