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Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day, says residential school “denialism” should be added to Canada’s Criminal Code as hate speech, citing Rebel News’ orange shirt campaign as an example of why a new law is needed.

Rebel News is selling shirts featuring messages including “Dig Deeper,” “Still No Proof” and “Built Not Stolen.”

Six Liberal MPs, including cabinet ministers Mandy Gull-Masty, Rebecca Chartrand and Buckley Belanger, have also called for Canadians to boycott Rebel News advertisers. The Justice Minister’s office has said any legal response would need to be considered.

NDP MP Leah Gazan has separately pushed legislation that would make it a criminal offence to “condone, deny or downplay” the residential school system, punishable by up to two years in prison. A similar provision was removed from Bill C-9 by the Senate in June.

At the same time, documents obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter show the federal government is funding researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University, Laval and Concordia to develop a “Local News Directory” identifying outlets considered “trustworthy and reliable.”

Rebel News has never accepted the federal journalism bailout.

The result is a troubling combination: government-backed efforts to identify which news outlets Canadians should trust, alongside calls to criminalize certain speech about residential schools.

Rebel News’ position is simple: Canadians should be free to ask questions and examine the evidence.