May 27 marked the third anniversary of Kamloops, Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc First Nation’s claim that the “remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School” had been discovered in unmarked graves.

In honour of the so-called discovery, the band government closed its office for a “day of reflection” on May 23 and released a statement that significantly backpedalled from its original sensational claim:

“On May 27, 2021, it was with a heavy heart that Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc confirmed an unthinkable loss that was spoken about but never documented by the Kamloops Indian Residential School. 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.”

215 anomalies?

Canadians will never know whether the rise in attacks against churches and nearly eight million tax dollars given to the band by the feds to uncover the “heartbreaking truth” would have occurred had the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc First Nation been transparent three years ago.

For example, as pointed out in our Rebel News exclusive documentary, Kamloops: The Buried Truth, it isn’t possible to detect the remains of 215 children “as young as three years old” solely by ground-penetrating radar (GPR). Finding “215 anomalies” could mean detecting a series of tree roots or even an old septic plot, which records indicate is located in or near the same area.

Despite correcting the 215 buried kids claim (without explanation for why they had gotten things so wrong) the band’s chief, (Kukpi7) Rosanne Casimir, will be choosing secrecy over transparency for the public regarding what has or hasn’t been discovered three years later.

In another recent statement posted on the band's site, Casimir stated:

“Our investigative findings and investigative steps are currently being kept confidential to preserve the integrity of the investigation,” stated Casimir, adding that the band’s “investigators' findings to date are consistent with the presence of unmarked burials.”

Pivoting further, Casimir encouraged allies to “refute the very real harm caused by denialists.”

“There have always been those who target Indigenous people in Canada, with systemic racism and white supremacy as foundational to Canada as the very federal laws that ripped our children away from home, in cattle trucks and police cars, to bring them to residential schools,” said Casimir.