The Kamloops Controversy: One Year Later | Frances Widdowson | EP 190

Published 4 days ago

The Kamloops mass grave controversy is back in the headlines, and this time the update is even more shocking than the first. I sat down again with Frances Widdowson, the professor who was wrongfully dismissed from Mount Royal University for questioning the official narrative around the Kamloops residential school claims, and what she shared this time left me speechless. One year after our first conversation, Frances updates us on her ongoing legal battle for reinstatement, the excavation that still has not happened despite millions of dollars in public funding, and a shocking new development where she was handcuffed and removed from a university campus simply for trying to have a conversation with students. Frances has spent years researching Indigenous policy in Canada and is currently working on a documentary series exposing the institutional failures behind the Kamloops case. She is one of the few academics willing to ask hard questions in a climate where asking questions can cost you your career, and her courage and conviction are something every one of us can learn from. If you have ever wondered what it costs to stand for truth, or if you needed a reminder that faith and conviction can carry you through even the hardest battles, this conversation is for you. Listen in, and let me know in the comments what stood out to you most.

In this episode, we talk through the latest developments in the Kamloops residential school graves story, including new findings from ground penetrating radar surveys, ongoing questions about academic freedom in Canada, and where Frances Widdowson's case stands today. We also discuss the broader conversation happening around Indigenous reconciliation claims and what accountability could look like moving forward.

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— Chapters —
00:00 - Welcome Back Frances Widdowson
00:38 - Update on the Mount Royal Reinstatement Case
02:43 - What Remains Documentary Recap
04:08 - Announcing the New Documentary Grave Error
04:28 - How Ground Penetrating Radar Actually Works
06:25 - The 12.1 Million Dollars and No Excavation
07:01 - No Missing Children Reports Across Decades of Investigations
08:04 - Billy Coombs, the Only Documented Eyewitness
08:45 - Kevin Annett and the Unrepentant Documentary
09:40 - Pope Francis and the Vatican Statement
10:46 - 320 Million Dollars Spent Nationwide
11:36 - Cemetery Burials Versus Clandestine Burial Claims
13:29 - Who Is Behind the Manipulation
14:13 - The Aboriginal Industry and Tony Merchant
15:10 - Tribal Elites: Casimir, Gottfredson, and the Jules Family
15:47 - Tanya Talaga and Murray Sinclair
16:59 - May 27th Rally at the BC Legislature
17:54 - The One BC Party Connection
18:19 - University of Victoria Standoff and Making a Killing
19:20 - Organizing the BC Legislature Event
21:10 - Confronted and Called a Racist
23:09 - Trespass Order and Return to University of Victoria
23:51 - Street Epistemology and the Spectrum Method
25:50 - Suing the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association
26:20 - February 4th: The Worst Day at Lethbridge
28:16 - Smudging Ceremony and Faculty Association Defamation
37:27 - The Four Pillars: Honesty, Transparency, Accountability, Legal Equality
40:23 - Petitioning MPs for Excavation Accountability
40:57 - Section 35 and Legal Inequality
43:49 - Working With Aaron Pete on Cross Perspective Dialogue
46:30 - How the Residential School System Actually Began
52:26 - A Century of Schools: Good, Bad, and Everything Between
53:19 - The 1962 Eyes of Children Documentary
55:11 - Why Boarding Schools Were the Proposed Model
56:25 - The 1907 Peter Bryce Report
57:32 - Michelle Stirling and the Williams Lake Case
1:00:25 - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Community Breakdown Today
1:02:17 - Revisiting Billy Coombs and the Queen Elizabeth Claim
1:04:10 - Is the Media Finally Shifting
1:07:32 - Alternative Media and the National Post Coverage
1:08:41 - The Globe and Mail Fifth Anniversary Story
1:11:27 - Restoring the Four Principles Going Forward
1:12:36 - Closing Thoughts and Thanks