"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)

 

Canada's Resurgent Antisemitism

"Specifically, I'd like to hear from someone who wants a ceasefire/is finding it hard to be pro-Israel right now OR someone who supports the war despite the high cost of civilian life -- and how their personal lived experiences inform those views."

"Please let me know if you might want to write something along those lines, and if so, what would your take be."

CBC programming editor

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ottawa

Canada's publicly-subscribed Crown corporation, a kind of government-allied news and entertainment source for which the public's tax dollars are dinged well over a billion dollars in upkeep yearly has a viral infection. It is often referred to as DEI (occasionally DIE) where Jews are placed within a racial hierarchy of white colonial oppressors. Critical Race Theory has its impact with the CBC, itself a colonialist-inspired stepchild of the United Kingdom's BBC, itself also a victim of that very 'progressive-woke' infection where antisemitism is freely and guiltlessly bandied about.

"Antisemitism has had a long sordid history in this country [Canada] and, for some it has always been hidden just below the surface. There was a reprieve after the guilt induced by the atrocities of the Second World War. But it is ascendant again, and surprisingly, its adherents are proudly so. Who are the purveyors of antisemitism?"

"Obviously, first are the radical Islamists importing their ancient historic Jew-hatred based on their particular interpretation of the Qur'an."

"There is the radical woke left which has, since Israel's underdog defeat of the combined armies of Jordan, Egypt and Syria in 1967, viewed Israel as an oppressor."

"Allied with those forces [of DEI, etc.], are universities and colleges, which have been temples of wokeness for years."

"The last group which I believe has been responsible for rising antisemitism are irresponsible media."

Howard Levitt, Levitt Sheikh LLP

 

The CBC, like its auntie BBC has been presenting news in a format geared to present Israel in the dim light of aggressor in its invasion of Gaza with the intention of destroying the operations instituted by the terrorist group that governs Gaza following Hamas's barbaric attack on southern Israel, where its terror operatives on October 7, launched a sordid bloodbath of civilians complete with gang rape, torture, mutilation and hostage-taking while triumphantly videoing the savagery of their sadistic, murderous rampage.

 

Shocked tones of outrage at Israel's search for and destruction of Hamas's tunnel networks, located within, under and around hospitals, schools, universities, apartment complexes emanate from the CBC on a regular basis, while condemnation of Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas, the PLFP, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, Iran's IRGC and the Islamic Republic for violently inciting and provoking Israel's military to respond resulting in often unavoidable civilian Palestinian deaths have placed most legacy media and certainly the CBC in league by default with Islamist terrorism.

 

Hamas is never described other than as a self-defense group, of 'activists', never as terrorists although they are listed as such on Canada's terror list, as is Hezbollah and other infamously Jewish/Israeli-death-dealing Palestinian organizations. When the CBC swiftly condemned and accused Israel of bombing a hospital, killing hundreds of Palestinians, it has never since apologized after the truth was revealed that the bombing resulted from a terrorist missile gone afoul in a misfire.

 

According to a columnist in the Toronto Sun -- Warren Kinsella -- the CBC struck a committee to oversee its Israel coverage. Which did not include Jewish journalists who point out that their takes of the situation through their journalistic reports are routinely ignored at the CBC. Months ago, the CBC opened its publishing portals to "deeply personal essays" relating to what it meant to be Jewish and Canadian in today's Canada, welcoming Jewish Canadians to add their voices to its coverage.

A Canadian Jewish writer -- Shawna Cohen -- responded by submitting a personal essay relating to just that required topic. The response from the CBC was to ask her specifically for sentiments other than what she had written. She may not have been surprised that the CBC editors rejected her original essay, outlining for her what their expectations were should she be interested in re-writing the essay from a different perspective and re-submitting it.

"As a Jewish person, I feel I have a responsibility to let you know that the specific angle CBC is searching for is dangerous and narrow-minded. The Jewish community is feeling extremely unsafe -- in Canada and beyond."

"Rather than providing writers with an opportunity to share how and why Jews are feeling this way, CBC has reverse-engineered the narrative. It is specifically seeking out a rare breed of Jew who doesn't support Israel and/or is willing to negotiate with a terrorist organization. Taking this approach only contributes to anti-Israel propaganda."

"To be honest, I was reluctant to pitch my story to CBC because of its established record of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist bias. From your response, it is clear that CBC does not welcome genuine opinions or perspectives that are not viewed through its own narrow, sociopolitical lens. This reality is unconscionable for a publicly funded broadcaster that considers itself the voice of a nation."

Shawna Cohen, Toronto writer

Protesters wave Israeli flags and hold placards in front of Big Ben at the Houses of Parliament in central London on Nov. 26, 2023 during a demonstration to protest against antisemitism. Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images)