Governor General Mary Simon's remarks for Truth and Reconciliation Day praised public efforts in learning about the Indigenous experience, contrasting with her 2023 speech that mentioned hidden residential school burials and media “denialism.”

Simon addressed survivors at Rideau Hall, stating their stories are a “gift” and “an invitation to repair bridges between all communities in Canada.”

“As we all know, many Canadians didn’t know what was happening in our country,” she continued. “I have been told by many Canadians they … never knew about them and only started to realize when former students started talking publicly about the traumas they had experienced.”

FULL DOCUMENTARY | Kamloops: The Buried Truth

Rebel News reporter Drea Humphrey and Matt Brevner take you on an investigative journey to uncover the truth about a story that misled a nation, the truth about what is actually known about what lies beneath the soil at the former… pic.twitter.com/gdtyBo7FT4

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 2, 2023

Simon's recent remarks differ from a 2023 speech where she criticized skeptics of residential school accounts, stating that “denialism” of abuse, neglect, and racism, though a minority view, is still present.

“Denialism takes the form of attacks online, through the media and through the desecration of burial sites,” said Simon. “These attacks are attempts to control the story of Indigenous peoples.”

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“Canadians can no longer say ‘I didn’t know,’” Simon claimed. In 2023, she stated that the trauma of residential schools, with children disappearing and buried in unmarked graves, was long buried and unheard, and the pleas of families went unrecognized for years.

BREAKING: CBC’s Rosemary Barton called me a liar and pushed false unmarked grave claims on national television. Now the state broadcaster is quietly backpedaling from their misinformation used to vilify Rebel News. pic.twitter.com/ZrbZLEJPQB

— Drea Humphrey (@DreaHumphrey) April 21, 2025

Simon's remarks followed the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation's 2021 announcement of discovering alleged remains of 215 children at a former residential school using ground-penetrating radar. No remains were recovered, but the First Nation received $12.1 million for exhumation and forensic testing.

Public agencies have since removed “genocide” references from statements about the residential school system. This term, “cultural genocide,” originated from the uncorroborated 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which also claimed 4,100 student deaths.

“The actual number of individuals buried, or cemetery sites associated with Residential Schools, is unknown,” reads a Ministerial memo by the Department of Crown-Indigenous Relations.

.@GGCanada drops reference to secret graveyards & genocide in conciliatory #TruthAndReconciliation Day speech, had earlier accused skeptics of "denialism" and "desecration." https://t.co/7lubLMrJBq @GCIndigenous @RideauHall pic.twitter.com/RGNs3WKwgb

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) September 30, 2025

In 2022, cabinet allocated $238.8 million to the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund to locate, document, and commemorate unmarked burial sites. The fund, extended to March 31, 2026, has disbursed $246.7 million. Requests for the fund now total $704.3 million.

The Kamloops First Nation changed gears last year, referring to them as anomalies. “With the help of a ground penetrating radar specialist, the stark truth of the preliminary findings came to light — the confirmation of 215 anomalies were detected,” reads a Day of Reflection statement.

It follows three years of mass outrage, a visit from then-Pope Francis and dozens of churches either damaged or destroyed in the wake of the alleged burial site.