Orange Shirt Day founder wants Rebel News shirts criminalized
Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day called for the criminalization of so-called residential school denialism, encouraging the government to bring forward a new hate speech law because of shirts questioning political narratives that are for sale in the Rebel News store.
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Article by Rebel News staff.
Two stories were making the rounds this week. On the surface, they appear different. But in reality, they're connected.
First, Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day, told the CBC she wants a criminal law passed to stop what Rebel News is doing. The CBC summarized her position plainly: she "supports the idea that residential school denialism should be added as hate speech to Canada's Criminal Code."
Here's her exact quote she shared with the state broadcaster: "I believe what Rebel News is doing right now is what is needed to convince our Canadian government that yes, a law needs to be passed."
What are we doing? We sell orange shirts. You can see them at RebelNewsStore.com. "Dig Deeper." "Still No Proof." "Built Not Stolen." Two words on a shirt. That's the crime she wants on the books.
But she wasn't alone in her demand.
Six Liberal MPs — including three sitting cabinet ministers, Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty, Northern Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand, and Secretary of State Buckley Belanger — signed a letter calling on Canadians to boycott our advertisers. These are cabinet ministers of the Government of Canada, organizing an economic attack on a news outlet.
The Justice Minister's office went further, issuing a statement about "any legal response." And NDP MP Leah Gazan wrote to the Liberal caucus asking the government to adopt her private member's bill — which would make it a criminal offence to "condone, deny or downplay" the residential school system, with a threat of up to two years in prison.
They tried this already. In June, the Senate stripped a near-identical provision out of Bill C-9, the government's hate bill, by a vote of 32 to 41. So now they have a new excuse: Rebel News.
Now, the second story.
Blacklock's Reporter obtained access to information documents from the Canadian Heritage. Those documents showed Ottawa is paying researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University, Laval, and Concordia to build what they call a "Local News Directory" — a list of outlets that are deemed to be "trustworthy and reliable."
The budget for this so far is $100,000 but the total was censored. And who qualifies? "Qualified journalism organizations." That's the Canada Revenue Agency term for outlets that take the government's journalist bailout — up to $29,750 per employee per year, from Ottawa.
So the government is paying academics to produce a list of the news outlets the government pays. And calling it trust.
Rebel News has never taken a dollar of the bailout. We never will. I don't need to tell you where we'll appear on the government's list of approved journalism.
Now, put those two stories together: a government-approved list of who to trust and Criminal penalties for those who ask the wrong questions.
Five years ago, the Kamloops band announced 215 "anomalies" in an apple orchard. In response, every flag in the country went to half-mast. Then prime minister Justin Trudeau knelt with a teddy bear for a photo op.
An astounding $320 million was pledged for grave searches. In the five years since, not one shovel has gone into the ground.
"Dig deeper" isn't a slur. It's what you'd say about any claim that big. They want to make it a crime. And they want to hand you a list of who to trust instead.
Do you trust the list? Or would you rather dig deeper?
GUEST: Exclusive footage of Tamara Lich's campus visit to the University of Calgary.
COMMENTS
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Paul Scofield commented 2026-09-11 22:06:25 -0400 FlagThanks, Ms. King! My guess is that there is none, at least conclusively.
The problem with the litany of nonsense spouted by the last two PMs is that they have to be kept track of. Someone once said, and I think it accurate, that the only person who could tell three different lies to three different people and keep them all straight was [former U.S. Secretary of State] Henry Kissinger. Neither Trudeau the Younger or Carney the Diminutive are that smart.
Hence, censorship and the Canadian use of Damnatio memoriae (“erasure from history,” if I remember Ezra talking about it correctly). -
Lou Bishop commented 2026-09-11 21:59:47 -0400 FlagI asked AI about the Kamloops claim. I got the standard lie about the graves of children… I asked for proof. The reply … you are right to ask for proof… I made a mistake. Ground penetrating radar picks up anomalies… no bodies have been unearthed
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Michael Guillery commented 2026-09-11 21:58:27 -0400 FlagRe Issues on Carbon Tax. What certain forces have done is convince many that carbon is a global threat. However, a review of the research by non-politically financed scientists (which anyone can find on the web) tells us otherwise. -
Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2026-09-11 21:53:31 -0400 FlagCK: when someone is making money from dubious, or even false, information and is doing so without question or challenge, anything which may contradict that premise is often seen as a threat.
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Peter Wrenshall commented 2026-09-11 21:32:19 -0400 FlagRe Ezra Levant’s opening remarks and the clip of Mamdani and his wife yukking it up as the names of the fallen of 9/11are read out: Mamdani is an absolute slimeball. What he has for a soul, if that’s what it is, belongs in a toxic waste dump.
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Céline King commented 2026-09-11 21:05:38 -0400 FlagWhat’s your point Bernhard? Your post is a little ambiguous.
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Bernhard Jatzeck commented 2026-09-11 20:59:25 -0400 FlagNever interrupt the gravy train.
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Céline King commented 2026-09-11 20:55:32 -0400 FlagThe novel can be purchased on Amazon.
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Céline King commented 2026-09-11 20:54:11 -0400 FlagOrwellian is absolutely correct Bruce. I wonder how many people know what that even means. And yes, LET’S SEE THE PROOF, I agree 100% with you Paul. If anybody who reads these posts does not know what Orwellian means, you can buy an illustrated copy of George Orwell’s Novel called 1984 written by Mr. Orwell in1948 if my memory serves me well. Thanks for your input guys.
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Matt Abrahams commented 2026-09-11 20:50:30 -0400 FlagYou keep contradicting the Holy Narrative, Ezra. That’s why they hate you.
By the way, you editor got the video segments mixed up again: your introduction to Lich’s “man in the street” interviews came after said interviews, instead of before. -
Bruce Atchison commented 2026-09-11 20:42:56 -0400 FlagThis gives me resolve to leave Canada and advocate for Alberta independence. Canada is getting too Orwellian. Carney’s drive for total power endangers ALL citizens. Alberta’s leaving might just be the jolt to awaken the nation to what’s happening.
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Paul Scofield commented 2026-09-11 20:11:10 -0400 FlagLets see. $320 million received. No work started in five years to prove the accusations of child murders. Trying to criminalize anyone says “lets see some proof.” Now, trying to ban people from wearing from an orange shirt with a different point of view. Yup. Sounds like a big-time Canadian race hustle to me. The American Left would be proud.
