Chaos erupts at UVic as hundreds block free speech on false '215 graves' claim - "The University of Victoria (UVic) became ground zero for chaos on December 2, when hundreds of counter-protesters descended on the campus to shut down what PhD scholar Dr. Frances Widdowson intended to be a peaceful, open-air discussion about the debunked claim that 215 children’s remains were discovered at the former Kamloops Indian Residential school. The same conversation was permitted to take place just weeks earlier at Thompson Rivers University, but at UVic, the “battle of the minds” was not permitted to occur. Widdowson, a vocal advocate for free expression, had planned to walk the campus and speak with willing students about how their school is still misleading them into believing that the discovery of 215 graves had occurred, and the lack of evidence to support such disinformation. Instead, the institution had her arrested for trespassing after deeming her presence and plans an unauthorized event that they could not safely manage. Also unwelcome on campus were OneBC Party Leader Dallas Brodie and members of her staff. The party had recently released its documentary, Making a Killing, which challenges the Kamloops claim and exposes how vast sums of taxpayer dollars have been funnelled into a reconciliation industry that, in many cases, does not directly benefit people on reserves. While the university shut down Widdowson’s informal walk-and-talk, it allowed a sanctioned counter-protest to go ahead. Hundreds of students participated, led by activists who falsely claimed that Widdowson’s effort to discuss the lack of evidence for what many consider the greatest hoax in Canadian history was an attack on the stories of their own relatives who attended residential schools... the only violent acts witnessed did not come from Widdowson or members of the OneBC Party. Instead, hostility emerged from some in attendance at the school's sanctioned rally, including two individuals who harassed me, our camera person, and the security team we hired to keep us safe. Far-Left activist and musician Logan Staats, who has a criminal history for pipeline blocking, also allegedly assaulted a man known online as “Droucouver,” who said he was filming Staats throwing smoke bombs at OneBC Party Chief of Staff Tim Theilmann, who is blind."
Left wingers hate free speech, assaulting those who challenge the narrative
This is the same university that let terrorism supporters occupy its grounds for almost 3 months
Most Canadians say more evidence needed on Kamloops "unmarked graves" - "Sixty-three per cent of respondents chose: “People should only accept the claim that this is evidence of unmarked children’s graves if further information is publicly available to verify it through excavation.”... When the Indigenous responses were tabulated, a slightly higher number (44 per cent) thought people should accept that the anomalies are unmarked children’s graves. But most (56 per cent) thought more information was needed to verify the claim... Despite widespread questions about the nature of the anomalies, Canadians are united in the view that residential schools amounted to a form of “cultural genocide,” with 68 per cent agreeing or strongly agreeing with the term, and only 23 per cent disagreeing or strongly disagreeing. The remaining 9 per cent weren’t sure. The survey also found that most Canadians overestimated how many Indigenous children attended residential schools. Roughly a third of respondents thought it was 40 to 60 per cent of children, while another third chose 60 to 80 per cent, and a few thought it was even higher. In fact, according to Angus Reid, roughly 30 per cent of Indigenous children attended a residential school, although it admits that precise numbers are unclear. The survey also found little appetite in Canada for a law against those would deny the harmful effects of residential schools, something the First Nations Leadership Council called for this year. Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of respondents were opposed or strongly opposed to the idea, while a further 24 per cent offered support or strong support, and 15 per cent weren’t sure. There was less unanimity when respondents were asked to choose between the statements: “Canada spends too much time apologizing for Indian Residential Schools – it’s time to move on,” and “The harm from Indian Residential Schools continues and cannot be ignored.” Roughly half (46 per cent) agreed with the first statement, while the rest (54 per cent) agreed with the second"
Time to jail these racist denialists!
Yellowknife man sentenced for sexual assault of 13-year-old - "A Yellowknife man was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in 2021. Bradley Storm Beaulieu, 26, appeared in a Yellowknife courtroom via video from an Alberta prison where he's serving unrelated sentences for impaired driving offences... The Crown asked the court for a four- to-five year sentence for the sexual assault, to be served as soon as his current sentences end. Fane said his proposed sentence was "restrained," taking into account that Beaulieu was a young adult when he committed the crime, but also "denunciatory of the abhorrent conduct." A pre-sentencing Gladue report revealed that Beaulieu had a difficult childhood. He was mostly raised by his grandparents, who survived residential school. His parents drank and he experienced family violence. He lost a close friend to suicide. But Beaulieu's lawyer, Jay Bran, said his client is working on himself in prison. He said Beaulieu got his GED, and he's become a skilled carpenter. Bran added that Beaulieu has taken nearly two dozen courses in prison related to drugs and alcohol. "This bodes well for his eventual return to the community," said Bran. The defence agreed that Beaulieu's sentence should be served consecutively, but asked for one in the range of 2.5 to three years. Delivering the 3.5-year sentence, Justice Shannon Smallwood recognized Beaulieu's Indigenous identity and the traumatic effects of colonialism on generations of his family."
Indigenous man who got 'huge break' in sex assault gets another one - "An Indigenous offender who got a “huge break” when a judge gave him house arrest for sexually assaulting a woman who was celebrating her engagement to another man just got another one for violating the conditions of his sentence. Nelson Lesage was sentenced to house arrest in July 2024 for sexually assaulting a woman while she was asleep with her fiancé at Lesage’s home in Fort Providence, N.W.T. “He was aware, or should have been, that not being sentenced to actual incarceration was a huge break,” Northwest Territories Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau wrote in a recent decision out of Yellowknife. “Even taking into account his guilty plea, his tragic circumstances and applying the principles that govern the sentencing of Indigenous offenders, the sentence he received was outside the range of what is ordinarily imposed by this court for this type of crime.” Then on Oct. 12, 2025, Lesage was found “passed out” at another home in Fort Providence... The court heard it wasn’t the first time Lesage had broken the conditions of his sentence. He was spotted at a house party this past May where alcohol was being consumed. The judge warned Lesage that breaking the conditions of his house arrest could land him behind bars... Despite this, the judge didn’t sentence Lesage to jail time... The sentencing judge “noted Mr. Lesage’s extensive criminal record which includes convictions for crimes of violence and, notably, a 1995 conviction for break and enter and commit sexual assault,” Charbonneau said. “The sentencing judge underscored the need to denounce and deter sexual violence, given the prevalence of this type of crime in the Northwest Territories.” Although the sentencing judge gave Lesage the penalty both the Crown and defence were recommending, “she did not agree with it,” Charbonneau said... Lesage told the court he broke the conditions of his house arrest after learning about his mother-in-law’s condition."
Damn colonialism!
Gladue principle has largely failed in its goals in past 25 years - "The principle that defines Canada’s approach to criminal cases involving Indigenous people has been “ineffective” in battling discrimination in the criminal justice system, according to a report released in July by the Yellowhead Institute. The report, called Twenty-Five Years of Gladue, investigates how the justice system has changed in light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in the case of R. v. Gladue. In the decision, Supreme Court justices Frank Iacobucci and Peter Cory reminded lower court judges that they must take Indigenous heritage into account when handing out sentences. Iacobucci and Cory called the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canadian prisons a crisis. “This was a strong reminder to judges to think long and hard before you sentence him or her to prison,” said Iacobucci... in the years after Gladue was implemented, the representation of Indigenous inmates has grown to 33 per cent from 12 per cent, according to the 2022-23 annual report by the Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada... Critics have considered the Gladue principle to be “unfair” to non-Indigenous people by giving a “race-based discount” on sentencing, according to the 2023 Department of Justice report Spotlight on Gladue. However, the report by the Yellowhead Institute — an Indigenous-led education and research centre based at Toronto Metropolitan University — said that Gladue has failed in its promise to make the legal system more just to Indigenous people. “The key driver of incarceration generally is the attack on Indigenous social organization, culture, and economic structures that have pushed Indigenous people to the lowest socio-economic indicators in the country and exponentially increased encounters with police. For Indigenous women, gender violence compounds the trend,” the report said." “Canada’s corrections ombudsman argues this drives recidivism as well.” A study by the Correctional Service of Canada in 2019 found nearly 38 per cent of all federal offenders released in 2011–12 reoffended within five years and about 60 per cent of Indigenous men reoffended in that period. “Gladue has been interpreted to be a manifestation of restorative justice. Yet, in practice, the vision has not materialized,” according to the Yellowhead Institute report. In the 13 years that Iacobucci sat on the highest court bench in Canada, he said he heard many cases that he considered both consequential and controversial, but if he were to write a memoir Gladue would be one of the first ones he would mention. Those who have criticized the ruling as being a “race-based discount” are “ignorant” to the failures of the justice system for Indigenous people, Iacobucci said."
I wonder who are the top attackers of Indigenous women
Clearly, reducing deterrence doesn't increase recidivism
McCRAE: Time to revisit Canada’s failed Gladue ruling - "Gladue has made the situation worse for criminals, their victims, and the public. James Smith Cree Nation and Hollow Water First Nation are but two examples of how turning our courts into welfare agencies has backfired, tragically. Many indigenous criminals are “disadvantaged,” so much so that they disproportionately find themselves before criminal courts and parole boards. This was the case with Sanderson and Simard, both of whom were indigenous and on parole, bail, or early release. But what of non-indigenous felons who have suffered some of the same misfortunes as those indigenous criminals which, it is believed, brought them before the criminal justice system? Sadly, many non-indigenous criminals also find themselves involved in crime because of neglect and abuse. Many were sexually, physically, psychologically, emotionally, verbally, and spiritually abused in their childhoods. Many were impacted by personal and/or family alcohol and drug abuse. Many were moved from foster placement to foster placement, and many lived in poverty. Non-indigenous people applying for bail or pleading for mercy in our courts do not enjoy the ‘benefit’ of the Gladue guidelines their indigenous counterparts do. This is racist, pure and simple. More importantly, the victims of criminals released because of Gladue have little to celebrate. Nor do their families and communities. How can they find closure and peace, knowing the criminals who victimized them or their loved one(s) are treated more leniently than non-indigenous wrongdoers? In our Canadian democracy it is simply not right that there are “preferred” criminals as distinct from ordinary criminals who commit heinous acts of violence. What restorative message can an indigenous criminal take from a society that says you can commit your crimes knowing you will get preferred treatment when it comes to bail, sentencing and parole considerations? Bail and sentencing considerations are supposed to include concern for rehabilitation, deterrence, and protection of the public. A Gladue-released criminal is not being rehabilitated. Nor is he — or others — deterred from committing more crime. Last, but certainly not least, and as we have seen, a dangerous Gladue-released criminal makes a mockery of protection of the public. It is clearly time for the Supreme Court to admit the mistake it made in its 1999 Gladue ruling. If the court refuses to act to reverse its own failure to protect victims and society at large, Parliament needs to do what it was elected to do: Protect Canadians, indigenous and otherwise, from violent criminals. It’s too late for the people of James Smith Cree Nation and Hollow Water First Nation, but there are millions of other Canadians who need better protection from people like Sanderson and Simard than the current system provides."
Clearly, we should just not send indigenous people to jail to stop their overrepresentation in the justice system. And when their indigenous victims suffer, blame colonialism and racism and send the indigenous industry even more money
BC Court of Appeal applies Gladue, replaces 21 months in jail with two-year conditional sentence : r/ilovebc - ""be under house arrest for the remaining 18 months of his conditional sentence"
From another article "Davis’s mother tried to stop him, but he walked up to Stone and without warning knocked him out with a single punch to the forehead, leaving him bleeding and vomiting. Stone needed multiple surgeries for two bleeds on the brain, was in a coma for three weeks, was paralyzed for two weeks, and he could have died, it said.""
Woman being sued for calling four others 'pretendians' says she's protecting identity - "A First Nations woman is being sued for calling four women "pretendians," with the plaintiffs seeking more than $500,000 in damages and retractions to the heavily publicized comments made about them. Michelle Christine Cameron, also known as Crystal Semaganis, who heads the Ghost Warrior Society, says she conducts research to safeguard community spaces designated for Indigenous Peoples and says those pretending to be Indigenous pose a real harm to communities and nations. In the lawsuit filed in July to the Supreme Court of Yukon, Amanda Buffalo, Krista Reid, Amaris Manderschied and their mother Louise Darroch, say Semaganis conducted research into their backgrounds and concluded they are of Ukrainian heritage, not Indigenous, and then engaged in a “relentless” social media campaign against them. Court documents say she is accused of calling them "'grifters,' liars and racists who exploit their falsely claimed Indigenous heritage for personal gain." The four women, three of whom hold positions working with or for Indigenous communities, are collectively seeking more than $500,000 in damages, as well as public retractions to the statements made by Semaganis."
Weird. Why are they so ignorant and think that pretending to be indigenous will benefit them, when it really is a liability?
More grave claims, but still no shovels - "Here we go again. More announcements that “graves” have been found at former Indian Residential Schools, more flags lowered in mourning and more uncritical press coverage. And yet times have changed. There is less news coverage of these events, there’s no federal flags flying at half-staff and there appears to be a marked lack of national angst. The best example that things are different is over at the Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC) which has done a stunning reversal in how it sees the residential school graves controversy. The LSBC is being sued by one of its own lawyers, Jim Heller, for libel. Heller claims he was accused of being a racist and a denialist for trying to get the LSBC to insert the word “potential” in educational material by the law society about the 215 “bodies” discovered at British Columbia’s Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS) in May 2021... Remarkably, the LSBC has revised its educational material which now only talks about how the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc Nation has “undertaken extensive investigative work at the KIRS site” and that “preliminary findings” from ground penetrating radar had identified “200 targets of interest at the Kamloops site that are probable burials.” The revised material is clearly less definitive and is exactly what Heller has been trying to get the LSBC to do from the start. Although if Heller is an alleged racist and a denialist for trying to get the LSBC to insert “potential” into the material, what does this make the law society now that they are equally tentative about the findings? And the skepticism shown by LSBC is odd considering that it was only in June this year that Brook Greenberg, the president of the law society, said there was no need to change the old language because it was “accurate.” However, the revised material is to be welcomed if it is an indication that we can start to have a civilized conversation around the issue of newly discovered “graves” at residential schools without people being labelled racist or deniers. Still, there is a way to go. There are news outlets that are only too willing to report on this issue with an uncritical, but lurid, eye. This week, The Canadian Press reported that the shishálh First Nation in Sechelt, B.C., announced 41 “additional unmarked graves” had been found with ground-penetrating radar around the St. Augustine’s Residential School site, bringing the number of suspected graves to 81. CP reported Chief Lenora Joe as saying that “survivors” had told of children being taken into a forest by staff and not returning. “We have always believed our Elders. This wasn’t a school, it wasn’t a choice, and the children who attended were stolen,” Joe was quoted as saying. The news caused the B.C. Legislature to fly its flag at half-staff in honour of those who were “mourning and remembering.” Meanwhile, earlier this month, The Times Colonist informed us in a headline, “Archival research has found 171 confirmed deaths at Kuper Island residential school, 50 more than previously thought.” The story went on to relate how one survivor saw a nun killing a young girl by pushing her out a third-floor window; that a furnace near the school was believed to have been used to dispose of children and infants; that an area behind the school was used to bury victims of sexual assaults by nuns and priests (aborted fetuses and murdered infants were buried there as well) and that some children were put in burlap sacks, weighed down with anchors and tossed into the sea. It is unfortunate that First Nations are reluctant, or unable, to provide precise details in these cases since they almost certainly warrant some kind of criminal investigation even at this very late date. Money certainly wouldn’t be an issue. Since Kamloops, the federal government has given $246.7 million (as of March this year) “to Indigenous communities and organizations to support community-led and Survivor-centric initiatives to document, locate and commemorate the children that did not return home and unmarked burial sites associated with former residential schools.” And the money appears to be just the beginning. The government’s statement says that the current knowledge gathering, archival research and non-invasive fieldwork “is necessary before work can begin on exhumation, identification and, if it is the wish of families, repatriation of remains.” To date, no “graves” have been exhumed, but if that is to happen, the costs will surely rise. If the public, like the LSBC, are becoming more skeptical it may be because four years after Kamloops, we constantly hear about truth and reconciliation but finding that truth is increasingly elusive."
Canadians divided on Indigenous rights in what B.C. leader calls ‘harmful’ poll - "A new poll has found that Canadians are divided on Indigenous rights. The poll, commissioned by the Angus Reid Institute, found that while a slight majority of Canadians feel that Indigenous Peoples have a unique status in Canada (55 per cent), and the vast majority of Indigenous-identifying individuals agree (68 per cent), others push back (45 per cent), saying Indigenous Peoples should have the same status as others living in modern Canada, including two in three Conservative party voters (68 pre cent)... Three in 10 of those polled said that the federal government is offering too much funding to First Nations communities, but the same number, 27 per cent, felt the current funding is too little... “On the issue of whether or not they should be integrating more into broader Canadian society, 45 per cent said yeah, Indigenous people should be doing that, but there are more Canadians who say that they should strengthen their own culture and traditions at 55 per cent,” Roe said. “But when it comes to the idea of moving towards more independence and control of their own affairs, 40 per cent of Canadians say that, whereas 60 per cent say they want them to be Indigenous Peoples, to be governed by the same systems and rules as other Canadians.” Terry Teegee, Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, said he found the poll disappointing. “I’m not surprised that this is coming from the right and from a Conservative point of view,” he said. “Matter of fact, I think it’s creating more harm than good.”... When asked whether their province is giving too much attention to Indigenous communities, an average of 24 per cent in the country said yes, but that number climbed to 37 per cent in B.C."
If you don't believe in special rights based on race, you're racist. Democracy is only important when it pushes the left wing agenda
Too late for Carney to get indigenous support for big projects? - "The Nishnawbe Aski Nation says its land covers about two-thirds of Ontario, including the mineral-rich Ring of Fire area in the northwestern part of the province. That area is often mentioned as a leading candidate to be the site of a big project that could get fast-tracked. But Fiddler has warned that a resistance movement will only unnerve mining investors. Ontario’s Ring of Fire and Alberta’s oil sands are typically held up as two of the resource bounties that have been held back, or even thwarted, for years under the Trudeau government, whose attitude toward developing resources and infrastructure ranged at times from uninterested to hostile. The story of then environment minister Steven Guilbeault ordering a federal assessment of a planned Ontario highway because of a frog habitat served as a vivid exemplification of the atmosphere: it took a costly, time-consuming court battle to slap back another attempt by the federal government to overreach into provincial jurisdiction. Plenty of economists agree that Canada needs to export its natural resources, as well as manufactured goods, as easily and efficiently as possible to reach its economic potential. But in many cases, those needed roads, rail lines, ports and pipelines don’t exist, or they’re antiquated and unable to compete, leaving resources in the ground and money and jobs in both native and non-native communities on the table. The key to the new legislation, the Carney government maintains, is that it will reduce the process time for big projects that can meet all the necessary safety and environmental standards by reducing red tape, namely the assessments, challenges and overlapping regulations. So, in other words, all the regulatory effects without the regulatory runaround that Canada’s system was infamous for. “Canadian jobs are at risk. Canadians’ livelihoods are at risk and, quite frankly, the prosperity of the country is at risk,” Tim Hodgson, the federal natural resources and energy minister, said earlier this month. “We need to do things that we have not done in a long time, in time frames we have not done since the end of World War Two.”... David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Metis Federation, told the Senate that he supports the legislation because the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump threaten the Canadian economy, which would cause hardship for his people. “We stand with you,” he said... One of the recent trends that had helped improve the relationship is the increase in the number of natural resources projects where Aboriginal communities have taken equity stakes, aided at times by government loan guarantee programs."
Trying to cut off what's feeding the gravy train at the same time you're trying to get even more gravy can only work for so long
'Free, prior, and informed consent' never amounted to a veto - "Free, prior and informed consent isn’t a veto. It never was. If this was the case, nothing would get built in Canada. I am a strong believer in democratic processes. You will get those in favour and those who oppose development. If the majority of a community wants development, it will proceed. The best thing governments and companies can do is provide Indigenous communities with all the information they need to make informed decisions. A number of things can go wrong when engaging communities. Projects that don’t succeed are often due to people who don’t have the community’s best interests at heart, or poor communication about the deal on offer and the benefits it will provide to the community. Gone are the days when industry had the upper hand. Indigenous communities have drastically improved their business acumen. Don’t assume our communities are not aware of what’s at stake and what a good deal looks like. I had a hard time accepting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). It is extremely convoluted and the only real effect it has had is to line the pockets of lawyers and pit elected and hereditary leaders against one another. While not all lawyers are bad people, the UNDRIP process they attempt to fix has had an adverse affect on us. There does not appear to be a single professor, lawyer or consultant who can fully explain UNDRIP, because it was not tailored to meet the needs of Indigenous peoples in Canada. I can only hope the process will improve over time... Free, prior and informed consent isn’t just about making money. It’s about purpose with the intent to change the lives of our people for the better. We call it “impact investing” and “social innovation.” Investing in people should be a community’s priority. This is about inter-generational knowledge transfer. When many of us are long gone, we will need the younger generation to help manage and sustain our communities’ wealth, culture, arts, language, environment, finances, social well-being, health, education and infrastructure. In order to achieve this, our communities need vibrant economies. We can’t build capacity without projects that provide opportunities for our people to learn new skills and provide for their futures. Grants and other funds given to us isn’t an economy. Those who think otherwise only hurt the people they claim to represent. We need to do better, because our younger generation is moving away from their communities to find work, or commute long distances to make a living. Large resource and infrastructure projects provide an opportunity for Indigenous people to live and work in their own communities, and lift themselves out of poverty. Let’s not jump to conclusions over Fraser’s misinterpreted quote. We can’t take offence at every comment. Doing so will only serve to hurt us. If the government and industry say they will consult Indigenous communities on major developments, then we need to open that door. If they don’t follow through, then we must hold them accountable. But Indigenous communities also need to make sure they hire the right people — people who understand big business and major projects. If you don’t hire the right people, your community will suffer the consequences and negotiations will fail. This duty falls on elected First Nations officials and their economic development offices. The key to fast-tracking major resource and infrastructure projects in Canada is trust. We have asked industry to do better. As Indigenous people, let’s make free, prior and informed consent work for us, to benefit not only our people, but all Canadians."
