How Low Can You Go, DEI-Infused Canadian Broadcasting Corporation?!!!

"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 February. 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 [Aboriginal Peoples Television Network] project."

Conservative Party of B.C. staffer, Lindsay Shepherd

 

"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."

"I have nothing to hide. I'm an honest academic who is trying to understand Aboriginal non-Aboriginal relations." 

Mount Royal University (fired) Professor Frances Widdowson

Questions are being asked about taxpayer-funded activism and media ethics after former Mount Royal University professor Dr. Frances Widdowson and author Lindsay Shepherd alleged they were specifically targeted in an elaborate prank operation.  Image generated by ChatGPT AI

 

Outspoken critics of unverified claims of 215 Indigenous children's bodies 'discovered' by ground-penetrating radar on the property of a Kamloops, B.C. Indian Residential School have found themselves isolated, unemployed, shunned and now targets of the nation's public broadcaster in league with an Indigenous media entertainment group. Punishment for denying the received wisdom of Canada having committed a 'genocide' against First Nations; colonialists versus indigenous peoples.

 

Lindsay Shepherd, in defense of Canada's first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, recently published a children's book to set the record straight; that Sir John A. was a man to be respected as far as the Indigenous population was concerned; while being a man of his times, he was also an authority figure who cared for the future of Canada's aboriginal people, hoping to bring them into mainstream society, to share in all the opportunities available to those with good educations who could participate at all levels of society in equal opportunities to flourish.

 

Despite which, the man who, during his time led Canada to a prosperous future, has been maligned as a 'white imperialist' colonialist, one of the architects of the Indian Residential School system, administered for the most part by the Catholic Church, for the purpose of giving Indian children a sound education that would lead to their integration into general society with all the opportunities for social and economic advancement to their credit. An aura of raging rejection saw his name taken off schools, his memorial statuary defaced and then toppled.

 

Despite denials from the CBC that there was no underhanded purpose in their participation in a scheme to humiliate and falsely accuse the two women of right-wing bias in their denials of the truthfulness of the two issues -- that of the unproven claims of Indigenous children being buried in unmarked graves, and the connection to Canada's first prime minister -- Lindsay Shepherd had an email exchange with the CBC's director of public relations, Katherine Wolfgang who wrote "(the CBC) can confirm that this project is in early production for CBC entertainment and (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network/APTN)".

 

Those involved in this 'prank' evidently knew Shepherd's home address, her children's names, and her bank account information...despite privacy laws that appeared to be no concern of the CBC. Frances Widdowson was flown from Calgary to Vancouver for a supposed documentary project to be filmed, where a fake production company, Forge Media, paid for her flights and hotel room, handing her a $1,000 honorarium. During a filmed studio interview, two people entered the set to dump boxes of children's shoes on a table.

 

A memorial is seen outside a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., on June 13, 2021. In May that year, the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation shared that preliminary findings from a ground-penetrating radar survey found some 200 potential unmarked graves on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

 

This was to represent the popularized piles of children's shoes that appeared in various places as public memorials to the "murdered" aboriginal children whose graves were illusional; where despite funding given to investigate fully and find evidence to support the allegations, no such action was ever taken. Believe, and respect the claims of murdered children or be labelled racist and worse; condoning the deaths of innocent children. This was the point at which Professor Widdowson realized the extent of the 'prank' she had been subjected to; brought to the studio under false pretences.

 

Her reaction was to livestream her experience. "I don't quite understand what you're going to do with it ... I don't understand what the context is. What is the program it is going to be released on"? she asked "culture jammer" Igor Vamos in a videoed interview. When she revealed that she was livestreaming the conversation, suddenly the studio lights were shut off, and as she was being walked out of the studio she continued to film.  

"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."

"It is important for us in the execution that this entertainment series does not negatively impact our news brand. As the show is still in production, it's premature for us to comment on the creative."

Head of Public Affairs, Chuck Thompson, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) 

The CBC is being criticized for its role in an upcoming comedy series that conducted prank interviews with two women who have drawn controversy for their views on Canada's residential schools. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)