Mario Zelaya on X - "π¨ INSANE BREAKING NEWS CBC just confirmed they funded a fake media sting operation targeting Canadians who question the residential school narrative.
They did it with APTN: Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. A fake company called “Forge Media” lured Frances Widdowson into a CBC studio under false pretences. Dumped children’s shoes on a table in front of her. Tried to shame her on camera She turned her phone on them instead. They shrank. A second fake company spent months deceiving Lindsay Shepherd. Fake interviews. Fake documents. Fake company. Then ambushed her on camera. CBC’s own PR Director confirmed it in writing: “This project is in early production for CBC Entertainment and APTN.” CTV called my verified content “Deception Decoded.” CBC funded ACTUAL deception. Both are government funded, and DECEIVING CANADIANS."
Barbara Bal on X - "How is this elaborate CBC setup any different from the classic Nigerian 419 scam? Both are long-cons that:
π Use fake personas and props to create legitimacy over time (intentional deception).
π Involve repeated interactions (emails/meetings) to lower defences.
π Escalate commitment (financial in one; footage in the other).
π Require significant effort (victim travel in the 419 case; travel and fake interviews in the media scheme).
The only difference? Instead of scamming the victim out of money, CBC is scamming professional reputation, footage, and content to push an agenda. Why is one treated as fraud under the Criminal Code and the other… as “journalism” or “entertainment”? Thoughts?"
Thread by @NewWorldHominin on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "I found out recently that I was deceived by social activists in an elaborate scheme dating back to January. A production group with what I now know has a fake name and fake identities gave me a friendly interview about my book A Day with Sir John A, and about Sir John A Macdonald, back in Feb. They connected me with a fake company called Heritage Figures Canada with a fake website and "hired" me to perform consulting work for them. We had what I now know were fake meetings, fake documents, fake commercial shoot, fake prototype of a Sir John A collectible. Then in a second filmed interview last week, they turned on me, and it was revealed to have all been a setup in order to demonize Sir John A and smear me. It turns out this is a taxpayer-funded CBC and APTN project. There is so much more, I will make a video. They also deceived @FrancesWiddows1
And this is scary: when I was signing the release form, one of the chatty producers was trying to distract me from reading it - but I obtained a copy, and they include a clause about using AI - so I can expect they will doctor the footage and create deepfakes. The project partially involves the individuals listed in my original post, plus Americans like Igor Vamos and Molly Gore. Also see the Sir John A impersonator in the top hat, who during the filming just said repeated things about "racial purity." It was so weird and unfunny
This is my children's book, A Day with Sir John A. This is why they set their sights on me"
Another story like Travis Dhanraj for "Save the CBC" to studiously ignore
Aaron Gunn on X - "I always thought the role of media was to hold the powerful accountable and to unapologetically seek the truth. Apparently, the CBC views it as trying to deceive and trick individual citizens (and opposition Members of Parliament) into bizarre and intentional “traps”. It’s something you would expect from a university fraternity, not a taxpayer-funded broadcaster. I want answers. Why is the taxpayer-funded broadcaster contacting Canadians and a Member of Parliament in disguise and trying to trick us into participating in a twisted social experiment, in partnership with American leftists like Igor Vamos? Will taxpayers also need to cover the legal bills for CBC in the inevitable lawsuits they are about to face? I interviewed more than 300 Canadians for my documentaries (and didn't receive any taxpayer money). Not once did I engage in garbage like this."
Aaron Gunn on X - "Wait until people find out how this CBC show tried (unsuccessfully) to manipulate and deceive a sitting Member of Parliament on its crusade to further attack Canada's history and smear the reputation of Canada's first Prime Minister."
Jacob Mantle on X - "This is absolutely outrageous. The state broadcaster @CBC intentionally targeted a Member of Parliament @AaronGunn with a psyop to push their anti-historical narratives about John A. Macdonald. Heads should roll."
The Breakdown on X - "It’s absolutely wild watching the free speech absolutists lose their minds over a sketch comedy show that committed the unforgivable sin of… Letting someone speak their own views with their full chests. Allegedly. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli"
Jonathan Kay on X - "I don’t know anyone who says that Canadians shouldn’t be free to try to prank journalists. What I see are people who don’t think the federal heritage department and CBC should be bankrolling it"
Andrew Lawton on X - "This is outrageous. CBC is behind a production that has been deceptively entrapping interviewees (and, in true CBC fashion, seemingly sparing no expense). How do fraudulent, fake documentaries fit in with Marc Miller's claim of CBC being necessary for "social cohesion"?"
Jonathan Kay on X - "Pranks can be fun (even if this one was a humiliating failure). what ppl are angry at is that this was done with govt cash, both from CBC & Cdn heritage dept. I.e. it wasn’t a subversive mischievous prank. It was a govt-approved propaganda gambit to attack ideological heretics"
Barbara Bal on X - "This isn’t comedy. It’s a violation. An 82-year-old retired teacher and history buff in Brockville OPENS HIS HOME, the ONE place you should feel completely safe in, and is exploited and mocked by a tax-payer funded CBC-backed documentary crew. So wrong. And weird."
cbcwatcher on X - "Is CBC breaking its own rules here in overseeing the unscripted Counting Coup/Northern Tales production? "For clarity, CBC News and APTN News have no involvement in this production or prior knowledge of it." According to CBC's own handbook, a CBC Executive In Charge is appointed and must be kept apprised of production. So something is off here CBC has full prior and ongoing knowledge... or it is breaking its own rules The single biggest ongoing obligation while in production is regularly delivering dailies + cuts for CBC notes, along with the post-production schedule. Everything else (publicity, inclusion, sustainability, clearances) supports that core creative review loop with the Executive in Charge The guide makes clear that producers are responsible for compliance, but the CBC Executive has final say on creative and standards matters. Since Counting Coup is explicitly an unscripted independent production, these rules apply in full. If the production is actively filming pranks or interviews right now, the Executive should already be receiving cuts and schedules on the agreed cadence. Further, fraudulently misrepresenting names of the participants, the business/entity involved, misrepresenting the production as a documentary and the true purpose of an interaction to secure signed waivers (e.g., appearance, release, or consent forms) would violate multiple provisions in CBC’s Code of Conduct, and the Unscripted Format Guide (link below) particularly around integrity, trustworthiness, respect for people, and informed consent Consent: any consent contract obtained through deception is an unenforceable contract. Producers allegedly used fake production companies/identities/website (e.g., posing as legitimate projects reclaiming Canadian heritage or providing balanced platforms) to lure interviewees. Privacy Commissioner Ruling: Border Security: Canada’s Front Line (2016): A reality show filmed an immigration raid without initial knowledge/consent. The subject signed a release while detained. The Commissioner found consent invalid under the Privacy Act due to coercion, lack of informed explanation, and context. The show was cancelled. Prank show releases are powerful but not bulletproof. US courts defer heavily to broad waivers; Canadian law (via privacy regulators, broadcasting codes, and torts) scrutinizes informed consent more strictly, especially with deception @FrancesWiddows1 @NewWorldHominin @Jerry_Amernic @AaronGunn @Dallas_Brodie"
Jonathan Kay on X - "Holy crap: CBC & Cdn Heritage both bankrolled that amateurish attempt to humiliate ppl who pointed out those 215 “unmarked graves” were never found. The bizarre thing is that on 4/17/2025, CBC *itself* admitted no graves were found. Did they also target CBC’s own public editor ?"
Kelden Formosa on X - "One more thought on the CBC residential school prank story: I've taught enough Indigenous kids and worked with enough Indigenous families to be persuaded that the Indian Residential Schools remain a genuine source of pain for many, many people, notwithstanding all the nuances in their histories. (I'm thinking of a man I knew who attributed his own alcoholism to the pain of child separation in an IRS, but who still insisted his granddaughter go to Catholic school and make her first communion--people are complex). Because I recognize this is such a source of pain, I would have the judgment not to make a whole sketch comedy routine about it or crack jokes featuring the supposed shoes of kids who'd died. That the CBC's team lacked that judgment shows how too many within it see this issue: not as a source of pain and complexity, but as a tool they can use to make fun of those with whom they disagree. It's insulting and instrumentalizing, not thoughtful or even clever, and it shows just how unserious they are about Indigenous people and our shared history."
cbcwatcher on X - "CBC News in Crisis Mode: Distancing Itself from Deceptive "Prank" Show
CBC News is scrambling to separate its news division from a controversial satirical prank series funded in part by CBC Entertainment and APTN Former professor Frances Widdowson was lured under false pretenses of a legitimate documentary, only to have children’s shoes dumped on the table in a staged stunt. She was targeted for questioning the residential schools narrative, particularly claims of “unmarked graves” at Kamloops CBC senior entertainment reporter Griffin Yeager claimed “unmarked graves found” at Kamloops — despite CBC’s own Public Editor admitting on April 17, 2025, that no graves or human remains have been confirmed there The production by NLT1 Productions (funded by the Indigenous Screen Office) used deceptive tactics resembling journalism to ambush critics. Other targets included CPC MP Aaron Gunn. CBC conveniently omitted this CBC claims “no involvement” by its news division and calls it “established satire.” Yet public dollars were used to target Canadians for their political views by people falsely representing themselves as CBC documentary producers... a practice many rightly condemn “Many are questioning whether public dollars should be spent for pranks targeting people for their political views.” This deceptive production raises serious ethical and legal concerns (misrepresentation, misuse of public funds). CBC remains exposed to potential legal action. The show should never have been greenlit This report demands a number of corrections @griffjaeger @AaronGunn @FrancesWiddows1 @NewWorldHominin @PresidentCBCRC"
John Rustad on X - "Skeptics like Widdowson are not denying deaths at residential schools. They are insisting on forensic verification for extraordinary claims that drove national policy, church burnings and vandalism, monument topplings, and billions in spending and reparations. Ground penetrating radar detects soil disturbances such as roots, pipes, old irrigation systems, animal bones, or possible graves. However, it does not identify bodies, their age, or cause of death. After half a decade and the expenditure of significant public money, the absence of exhumation and DNA evidence is noteworthy, not denialism. Using public broadcaster funds for deceptive pranks to mock people who are asking for evidence, while the original narrative remains unverified, looks like narrative protection rather than journalism or reconciliation. It erodes trust in institutions that are supposed to inform the public rather than propagandize."
Amy Hamm: CBC's latest propaganda — pranking Kamloops graves skeptics | National Post - "There are two words to describe the involvement of a public broadcaster in such a project: blatant propaganda. All of the targeted persons, thus far, have one thing in common: they’ve been outspoken critics of the unverified claims that 215 children’s bodies were found in a mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. This includes commentator and former Conservative Party of B.C. staffer, Lindsay Shepherd, and fired Mount Royal University professor Frances Widdowson. Shepherd was additionally targeted because she published a children’s book about John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister. (A man whose legacy is contested and whose statues have been desecrated and sometimes toppled across the country.) Conservative MP and documentary filmmaker, Aaron Gunn, announced that he was an attempted target. As has independent B.C. MLA, Dallas Brodie... Shepherd included a screenshot of an email with CBC director of public relations, Katherine Wolfgang, in which Wolfgang writes that “(the CBC) can confirm that this project is in early production for CBC entertainment and (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network).” Shepherd shared on X that the persons involved in pranking her know her home address, children’s names, and even her bank account information... Widdowson said that she is not opposed to prank videos as a form of political commentary. “These pranks have their place, to challenge the powerful, but the CBC is going after those of us who are trying to speak the truth in the face of institutional censorship. Public funds should not be spent to silence dissidents and prevent a reckoning about the Kamloops ‘215’ deception that has been promoted by universities and the media for five years,” Widdowson said. Rather ironically, the CBC has been forced to issue a correction over the Kamloops mass graves claim, to clarify that there are only “potential” grave sites and not “remains of Indigenous children,” as veteran CBC reporter Rosemary Barton said on air in April 2025. CBC’s head of public affairs, Chuck Thompson, provided a written statement to the Post about the prank series: “Northland Tales (working title) is an Indigenous-led unscripted, half-hour comedy series in early production for CBC Entertainment and APTN. For clarity, CBC News and APTN News have no involvement in this production or prior knowledge of it. The project was first pitched at the Indigenous Screen Summit — part of the Banff World Media Festival in 2024. CBC Entertainment joined APTN as a partner shortly thereafter. Social experiments and satirical prank shows are a long-established television format used by broadcasters and streamers around the world, including many public broadcasters. In this case, the Indigenous creators are using the format for Northland Tales. A form of comedy is being deployed to increase better understanding of historical injustices against Indigenous peoples and support truth and reconciliation in Canada... Thompson did not answer questions regarding the amount of funding CBC provided for the prank series. “We don’t disclose financial details for any of our shows,” he wrote. It’s a non-issue if a private production company decides to engage in deception and prank videos in the pursuit of profit and/or their own political goals. It’s entirely different when our national broadcaster, dipping into the public coffers, targets nonconformist political commentators in order to push a preferred narrative. The former is free enterprise while the latter is state agitprop. Widdowson is correct in asserting that this type of stunt has its place when used to confront the powerful. But that’s not at all what the CBC has gotten itself into. What happened to Shepherd and Widdowson is an inversion of the power differential that can make an ambush-style prank meaningful or entertaining. The CBC, and the pranksters it apparently funded, hold all of the cultural and institutional power in this situation. Their targets, by contrast, hold none. Shepherd and Widdowson have been made public punching bags for their insistence upon speaking the truth, in part for correcting the institutionalized mass graves narrative. Widdowson has demonstrated her willingness to be arrested, repeatedly, simply for telling the truth. Despite their efforts (among others), not a week goes by that I don’t speak to a Canadian who isn’t aware that there were no actual bodies discovered in Kamloops. By all appearances, the CBC intends to keep Canadians misinformed on the issue — and they will resort to underhanded, ethically-questionable methods to do so. On our dime."
Lindsay Shepherd on X - "The CBC "prank show" deception scandal is getting so much worse. The producers (operating under fake identities/fake company names with fake websites) told a number of RCMP veterans - people who dedicated their lives to serving on the frontlines - that they were invited to film for a show called "Life After Service." A ceremony to thank them for their service would follow, and they were told dignitaries would be present. This would take place at the CBC Vancouver studio. They were told to come in uniform. When the RCMP vets arrived at the CBC Vancouver studio on March 25th and 26th, the "pranksters" took their phones away, which they claimed was CBC Vancouver studio policy. The former RCMP officers were also placed in front of an audience of what they were told were about two dozen "journalists." And it was sprung on them that this was a "live broadcast", with "media availability" afterwards! Then the producers switched up the whole session to be not about life after service, but the historical wrongs committed by the RCMP against indigenous peoples - to berate these vets for being part of the RCMP. There is so much more but I am hoping the individuals targeted in this elaborate scheme will be able to share their stories themselves. Seriously, what even sounds remotely funny or silly about this concept? It is just sick and cruel @CBCNews and @APTNNews ... what are you thinking?"
CBC called out for role in prank interviews of Kamloops residential school grave critics | CBC News : r/canada - "My tax dollars go to lots of things I don't necessarily agree with and that includes CBC programing at times. That's just how it goes. If the public debate and outcry is big enough I'm sure they'll take that into consideration."
"Nope. What you said was completely irrelevant. You didn't even attempt to refute my point, because you can't. Of course taxpayer dollars go to things that not everyone agrees with. That in no way supports your original statement that we have no right to say what CBC funded shows (aka taxpayer funded) say or don't say. If the CBC funded a show ran by a group of people who believed that Canada should be a nation of white people and went around spreading that message, is that cool too? Who are we to say they can't express their views? Of course not. You'd be the first person to say that CBC shouldn't be paying for such a show. Because you're a hypocrite. No bad tactics, just bad targets."
CBC called out for role in prank interviews of Kamloops residential school grave critics | CBC News : r/canada - "The CBC stated in the article that they were unaware of the specific content (which is normal, someone already posted the general pitch, above, and that's what they would have chosen to fund). If this sketch sees the light of day I'll concede the point, but I highly doubt it will."
"That's not how it works. CBC is still responsible for who they give their money to. If a group of white nationalists were going around spreading their message and being funded by CBC to do so, no one would agree it was ok if CBC simply said "well we didn't know what they would say". Heads would roll, and rightly so. That said, you're right that it most likely won't be aired. But not because CBC has scrupulous principles or something. This is the same organization that openly discriminates against white people in hiring, after all."
I was set up by CBC and mocked for the crime of not hating Canada | National Post - "we got into Indian Residential Schools and I said everything you hear isn’t necessarily correct. Then up on this screen was a quote attributed to Macdonald that appeared to be a racist comment about Asians. I said something was taken out of context and “Mike” assured me they’d have a look. The whole thing didn’t seem very professional. Later I mentioned the often-heard accusation about Macdonald intentionally starving Indigenous people when their food source the buffalo herds dried up, which is nonsense. In the 1880s, eastern Canada was in a recession and the budget for every federal government department got reduced. The Liberals, the official Opposition, wanted to reduce the budget for Indian Affairs even more. But Macdonald fought them and implemented a famine-relief program to feed the natives. He was also responsible for vaccinating them during a smallpox epidemic. Trending 'I'm sick to my stomach': Retired RCMP officer details humiliating experience with CBC prank show Clinton Jaws in a screenshot from his video Carney and Trump are at an impasse on trade negotiations. Whose fault is it? Mark Carney and Donald Trump. Geoff Russ: The South Africanization of B.C. David Eby Tim Hortons customer dies after pulling a chunk of hair from employee's head over order disagreement grayson Toronto driver wins appeal of red light ticket nearly two decades after 'sarcastic' justice convicted him A Toronto street In short, he saved thousands of Indigenous lives, but one must do some research to learn this and not rely on social-media feeds. However, not everyone wanted to hear positive things about Macdonald. Not the folks at the national broadcaster nor the actor dressed up as John A who said something to the effect that if the “Indians” as he called them are hungry we might as well starve them. Huh? It wasn’t until two days after returning home that I discovered, through a professional acquaintance, that it had been a set-up. Yes I’d been scammed, along with academic Frances Widdowson and former B.C. Conservative staffer Lindsay Shepherd. Widdowson was a tenured professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary who was fired after denying that the residential schools were genocidal. In my book I call her “public enemy no. 1” for the woke community. I’ve read her books — Disrobing the aboriginal industry: the deception behind indigenous cultural preservation, which was co-authored with Albert Howard and short-listed for the Donner Prize awarded to books “considered excellent in regard to the writing of Canadian public policy,” and Separate but unequal: How parallelist Ideology Conceals Indigenous dependency. Widdowson has a PhD and is no slouch with the Indigenous file, but she got cancelled from the academic community. Shepherd got cancelled, too, when a graduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University after not going along with the gender-neutral insanity that permeates the lunatic left. She also wrote a children’s book about Macdonald that doesn’t follow the “woke” narrative. We’ve since learned Pam Gibson is Molly Gore, an American producer for “left-wing ecosocialist documentaries,” as Juno News put it. Becky is an Indigenous comedienne named Dakota Ray Hebert. And Mike Smith is Igor Vamoose — sorry, Vamos — an associate professor of media arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the U.S. He also goes by Mike Bonanno, but his name should be a.k.a. He’s with The Yes Men and who are they? “The performance-activist duo that impersonates captains of industry and surprises unsuspecting business audiences with satirical, poignant actions that comment upon pressing social and environmental issues.” Whatever. The point is these people weren’t who they said they are. Their production company is phony. They misrepresent what they do. And at the end of this dark tunnel I could see potential for me being depicted not as I would like. And by the way, they paid me in cash. Crisp $100 bills. In an envelope. Other targets who didn’t take the bait include politicians, journalists, and those who question the story about the graves of missing and murdered children in Kamloops. On the day of my shoot they interviewed Shepherd, who we now know has been in their crosshairs since February, and Widdowson, who realized something unsavoury was taking place when two Aboriginal men dumped a bag of children’s shoes in front of her. She then whipped out her phone and started shooting the crew. Earlier this year the same group lured retired RCMP officers to the national broadcaster’s Vancouver studio. Like me, the retired Mounties were flown in. All expenses paid. What was supposed to be an event honouring them turned out to be a public humiliation about perceived injustices perpetrated by the RCMP. All caught on camera. The sorry scheme involved the comedy series Northland Tales, and was being co-produced by the CBC and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). It’s been described as an “unscripted, half-hour comedy series where an Indigenous activist trio uses pranks as a form of social action in the vein of Borat.” But the Borat character created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen wasn’t funded by the BBC. On May 19, the CBC announced it was pulling the plug on the production. Said the broadcaster: “It is important for us in the execution that this entertainment series does not negatively impact our news brand.” Uh-huh. Let me tell you something. If our national broadcaster was a detective agency, Inspector Jacques Clouseau would lead it. If it was a police unit, Frank Drebin of Police Squad would run things. And if the two co-producers behind this scam were looking for a third party to join their venture, we could call them The Three Stooges. After all, the name should fit the brand."
Engaging Americans is part of Canada Strong when it pushes the left wing agenda
CityNews Toronto on X - "The CBC is pausing production on a satirical show on Indigenous issues after blowback from some who claimed false pretences were used to lure high-profile guests."
Jonathan Kay on X - "This tweet is ridiculous. If the only targets were powerful “high profile” people, I’m not sure ppl object. But primary targets were female mavericks, retired cops, and an 82-year-old history buff And the word “claimed” is dumb. This was done by email. Everyone has receipts"
Adam Zivo on X - "The language and content of this article is designed to downplay the scandal as much as possible. No details are given about the show’s extensive use of deception, and no quotes are included by those affected by it. This is another example of how the Canadian Press (the wire service which originally wrote this) has a significant left-wing bias. I’m thankful that Postmedia dropped them as a news source this spring, dealing a severe blow to their revenues."
GOLDSTEIN: CBC's Northland Tales aimed at the wrong targets | Toronto Sun - "On a topic that literally lends itself to satire — the continuing failure of successive federal governments to improve the lives of Canada’s Indigenous people no matter how much taxpayer money they throw at the problem — the CBC and APTN entertainment divisions chickened out. Both government-funded organizations, their now-paused “satirical” show Northland Tales clearly had almost nothing to do with their stated claim which was to “increase better understanding of historical injustices” and to support truth and reconciliation. Their real purpose, based on what they attempted, was to humiliate, through deception, people they despise... Their tactics resembled the “in-crowd” at a high school where the cool kids plot to bully and humiliate those they dismiss as outcasts and loners. As my Sun Media colleague Brian Lilley accurately put it, they chose to “punch down” at those with no power to effect change in Canada’s treatment of its Indigenous people... what they never considered, apparently, was to engage in what the most effective satire does — which is to “punch up” at those with actual power. In this case, those with the power to influence Canada’s treatment of its Indigenous people, not in Macdonald’s time, but today. That would be those politicians, bureaucrats and Indigenous leaders — not all of them, but clearly far too many — who are incompetent at best and at worst, corrupt. Those responsible for the fact that year after year after year — as documented in numerous reports by Canada’s auditors-general — the tens of billions of dollars spent annually on programs ostensibly designed to improve the lives of Indigenous people fail to achieve their goals, with no consequences for anyone involved in these failures. Today, indigenous unemployment, poverty, disease, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide and incarceration rates remain far above Canadian norms, despite spending in the Justin Trudeau era alone on Indigenous issues tripling from $11 billion to $32 billion annually, excluding land claim and other legal settlements. A decade ago, the late auditor-general Michael Ferguson produced a series of scathing reports on what he described as the “incomprehensible failure” to close the socio-economic gap between First Nations and other Canadians. He called it an abject failure of leadership going back decades at the “federal, provincial, territorial and First Nations levels — with most of the responsibility falling on the federal government.” The root problem, Ferguson said, was that the federal bureaucracy didn’t monitor the results of its spending on Indigenous programs to see if the money was accomplishing what it was supposed to accomplish. Instead, he said, these programs “are managed to accommodate the people running them rather than the people receiving the services … the focus is on measuring what civil servants are doing rather than how well Canadians are being served.” “We don’t even see that they know how to measure those gaps,” that the funding is supposed to address, Ferguson said, and until we do, Canada “will continue to squander the potential and lives of much of its Indigenous population.” If anything is worthy of the effective use of satire, to humiliate those with power who are responsible for these massive and ongoing failures, it’s that."
Thread by @jonkay on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App - "there’s a non-zero chance this whole CBC dumpster fire was an undercover @ezralevant double-agent op to destroy the CBC. It doesn’t just make the CBC look biased, but also incompetent. No one in the CBC’s bloated corps of producers & lawyers flagged what a disaster this would be. They all thought they would get shiny reconciliation medals. These hacks live in their own little world, completely insulated from normal Canadians (most of whom they hold in utter contempt) The most insane part is that nobody at the CBC will be held to account for this. It’s a place without accountability, since no one really cares much about the CBC or watches it anymore. So we have this joke of a country where the head of Air Canada has to commit professional seppuku for a single non-bilingual message, but the CBC keeps getting $1.6 billion despite being an endless gong show. And what were CBC lawyers doing instead of preventing this disastrous project from happening? Oh yeah, that’s right…. They were going to court to try to prevent disclosure of their garbage GEM viewership numbers. Your tax dollars hard at work"
CBC-funded prank show’s deceptive tactics raise fraud and legal concerns: Lawyer - "The producers of a co-produced CBC and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) TV show may have committed civil fraud against their targets, a Toronto defamation lawyer believes after reviewing the facts currently available to the public. Denis Grigoras, a Toronto-based civil litigation and defamation lawyer at Grigoras Law, says that the public evidence involving the CBC-funded Northland Tales show producers allegedly using fictitious corporate identities, false names, and fabricated websites to induce targets into consulting agreements and on-camera interviews likely amounts to fraud under Canadian law... “There’s a strong arguable case in civil fraud, also called the tort of deceit, and in fraudulent misrepresentation,” Grigoras told The Hub in an interview. Northland Tales—which was currently in production until being reportedly put on hold this week for review by CBC—created controversy when Widdowson started a livestream video after realizing she had been pranked by the show’s host and crew... The defamation lawyer believes CBC and APTN run a much higher risk of becoming defendants in strong civil fraud and defamation cases if they end up airing the now-halted production. “The ‘loss’ requirement [in civil fraud] can also be established: time and professional opportunity cost, travel…and, most significantly, if the program airs the reputational injury that follows.” Regardless, Grigolas believes the victims of the self-described satirical prank show crew have a strong case based on the current documents and accounts from prank victims made public. “That sort of conduct, if established by a plaintiff, would attract significant aggravated damages…and punitive damages,” Grigoras explained. Punitive damages are awarded in situations where the defendant’s misconduct is so malicious, oppressive and high-handed that it offends the court’s sense of decency and represents a marked departure from ordinary standards of decent behaviour... Grigoras told The Hub that a contract found to be signed by the use of fraud is voidable. “If, as she describes, a producer functioned to distract her from reading the document while she was being pressed to sign it quickly under cover of a fictitious identity and fabricated commercial purpose, that goes to the issue of consent,” Grigoras explained. “Consent procured in that manner is not real consent.” “The AI/deepfake clause raises an additional layer of exposure. If it was buried, opaque, or signed under circumstances that defeated meaningful consent, it is open to attack,” Grigoras added. “Basically, the AI clause does not give the producers a free pass; if anything, it makes it easier to argue that they contemplated the very harm that unfolded.”... The CBC- APTN-produced show was first pitched to CBC Entertainment in 2024 under the title Counting Coup, which is a reference to an Indigenous historical warrior practice of touching or striking the enemy in battle (but not killing them), in an act of humiliating them... questions still remain around the CBC’s entertainment division about what producers and executives knew about the deceptive and potentially fraudulent actions of the independent production crew producing the CBC-commissioned show. The CBC’s own guide for unscripted independent producers makes it clear that all production partners must adhere to its guidelines. Those guidelines include CBC executives having access to all daily recordings and being informed on what’s going on with ongoing production of a show: “All dailies and cuts (rough cuts, fine cuts and picture lock cuts) are to be provided to CBC via a password-protected online delivery system…All cuts should be sent to the Executive in Charge of Production.” Furthermore, CBC requires independent producers to provide the CBC draft and final copies of contractual commitments made to interviewees, and a CBC production executive must have oversight over projects. CBC defended the prank production as a form of comedy. “Satirical prank shows are a long-established television format used by broadcasters.” But Grigoras believes the satire defence might not apply. “The satire defence protects publications that convey their satirical character to the audience; it does not protect publications that deliberately disguise their nature,” Grigoras told The Hub... Conservative MP Aaron Gunn, who was himself approached to be pranked but declined an interview, sent a letter to the CBC ombudsman looking for answers on how the production was greenlit by the public broadcaster. “[I’m] demanding an explanation and accountability for the use of taxpayer money to mislead, deceive and lie to Canadian citizens, including Members of Parliament, in attempts to trick them into participating in a fake documentary smearing the reputation of Canada’s first prime minister”"
In Short - CND MATTITUDE - "The CBC project used fake production companies to lure conservative figures, critics, retired law enforcement, and academics in front of cameras under completely false pretenses.
The CBC has explicitly defended the operation by clarifying that the show was funded and handled by CBC Entertainment, completely separate from its News department. In Canada, satirical prank shows are legally recognized as a “long-established television format” used by public broadcasters. Because it is categorized as entertainment/comedy, it is not legally bound to the CRTC’s strict journalistic codes of balance and neutrality that govern CBC News.
The Seduction of Release Forms: The production companies used deceptive pitches to get the targets to sign appearance waivers. Legally, the producers rely on these signed forms to argue that the participants consented to being filmed and broadcast, even if they were misled about the specific tone of the program.
THE RELEASE
In Canadian civil law under specific doctrines governing consent and contractual validity, a broadcaster cannot use a signed waiver or a verbal agreement as a "blanket shield" to protect themselves if they used active deception to obtain it. Consent must be informed. If the producers actively hid the pre-formed negative narrative, the consent is considered "vitiated" (poisoned/invalidated) by fraud. Standard media release forms usually contain a clause where the signee agrees not to sue for libel, invasion of privacy, or emotional distress. However, Canadian courts have consistently ruled that you cannot contract out of your own fraud.
If a court finds the CBC obtained the signature through a fraudulent setup, the judge will throw the release form out.
This leaves the broadcaster completely exposed to a massive lawsuit for defamation, breach of confidence, or injurious falsehood.
THE FINANCIAL REPERCUSSION
We will pay for the litigations against CBC since they are a taxpayer funded “State” media outlet.. CBC is a Crown Corp. Yes, they can say it was “look over there, it wasn’t me, it was those other guys,” however, at the end of the day, ALL the money does come from us, even for the “look over there” programs.. Calling them “prank” interviews implies they were a “joke.” A prank is a harmless, lighthearted trick intended to cause momentary amusement or surprise. I do not believe the “guests,” who were duped into signing releases under false pretenses, were “amused” by the state funded attempt to publicly shame them. Successful or not, the intent of the deception was clear: to maliciously and deliberately humiliate the guests on a public stage. In more formal and legal contexts, you could say...
Does not constitute a prank.
Falls short of a prank.
Does not meet the definition of a prank.
Fails to qualify as a prank.
Is this how you want your State media outlet to behave and are you willing to pay for it?"
NL Now Unfiltered | Facebook - "7 hours after this article was written, Brian Lilley writes CBC puts a hold on these "shows." Today, Juno News says the RCMP have engaged with their lawyers.. PS we pay for all of this. The legal team of the RCMP and the CBC are paid for by us, the taxpayers. How much money is this little malicious smear campaign going to cost us? How much did it cost us already? The CBC project used fake production companies to lure conservative figures, critics, retired law enforcement, and academics in front of cameras under completely false pretenses."
Clearly, those suing the public broadcaster are bad people for forcing it to waste taxpayer dollars
Poilievre, Legion back inquiry into CBC sting designed to humiliate opponents - "Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and the Royal Canadian Legion are joining Canada’s national RCMP union in demanding a full inquiry into a taxpayer-funded CBC and APTN “prank” project that allegedly tricked RCMP veterans and conservative commentators into public humiliation under false pretenses."
Left wingers need to hate the Royal Canadian legion now. But they hate western militaries after all
Lindsay Shepherd on X - "I tried asking APTN what their involvement is in the CBC "prank show." Their comms director accidentally sent me an internal email stating that they were going to ignore my inquiry because I'm just a lowly Canadian citizen and not a media outlet (not that they will give a sufficient answer to the media either.) I followed up and asked who I can contact then, and they just didn't respond. It's actually crazy that these taxpayer-supported institutions think that they don't need to answer to anyone. They don't even think I deserve a modicum of an answer to my questions, even though they shouldn't be difficult to respond to."
