P.E.I

• Recently a politician from a village in Prince Edward Island displayed an offensive sign on his property in which he proclaimed there is a “mass grave hoax” regarding the former Indian Residential Schools in Canada.
• Although many have called for him to resign, he is just one of many people who subscribe to this false theory.
• A hoax is an act intended to trick people into believing something that isn’t true.

There is no media conspiracy

• As two settler academic researchers, we decided to investigate the claims of a media conspiracy and fact-check them against evidence.
• To find out, we analyzed 386 news articles across five Canadian media outlets (CBC, National Post, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and The Canadian Press) released between May 27 and Oct. 15, 2021.

‘Preliminary findings’ of ‘unmarked burials’

• A National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Memorial Register has to date confirmed the deaths of more than 4,000 Indigenous children associated with residential schools.
• But the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) noted its register of missing children was incomplete, partly due to a large volume of yet-to-be-examined and destroyed records.

Countering harmful misinformation

• In the two years since, a number of commentators, priests and politicians, including the P.E.I councillor with his sign, have downplayed the harms of residential schooling — or questioned the validity, gravity and significance of the the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation’s announcement.
• We hope that our research can contribute to this work and that our report helps to debunk the “mass grave hoax” narrative specifically.

Cherry-picked ‘evidence’

• Myths, however, are not pure fiction; they often contain a kernel of truth that is exaggerated or misrepresented.
• This selective representation of evidence is commonly referred to as cherry-picking, and it’s easy to see how those spreading the “mass grave hoax” narrative rely on cherry-picked evidence.
• By September, denialists were misrepresenting the extent of media errors to push the conspiratorial “mass grave hoax” narrative online.
• And we hope our report sparks a national conversation about how important language is when covering this issue.

Challenging Residential School denialism

• According to Daniel Heath Justice and Sean Carleton (one of the authors of this story), residential school denialism is not the denial of the residential school system’s existence.
• Read more:
  Truth before reconciliation: 8 ways to identify and confront Residential School denialism

  Residential school denialism, like climate change denialism or science denialism, cherry-picks evidence to fit a conspiratorial counter-narrative.

Truth before reconciliation

• This is the strategy of disempowering and discrediting residential school denialism advocated by former TRC Chair Murray Sinclair.
• We hope others will join us in this type of research to help Canadians learn how to identify and confront residential school denialism and support meaningful reconciliation.
• As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission said in its final report, without truth there can be no genuine reconciliation.

• CHARLOTTETOWN, PE, Oct. 10, 2023 /CNW/ - As Canada's health ministers gather in Charlottetown, P.E.I., national health care organizations are calling for clear action plans to unlock federal funding and urgently improve access to care for Canadians.
• Meanwhile, Canada is experiencing population growth at a rate not seen in decades and health care providers are struggling to keep up with the volume and complexity of required care.
• Our organizations are prepared to work with all levels of government on tangible solutions to reform our health care system and improve working conditions for providers and access to care for patients.
• From community health centres to nurse practitioner-led clinics, nurses are eager to play a greater, expanded role in primary care as part of a broader team of health care providers."

• At the Mosaic Refugee Health Clinic in Calgary, we tallied the physical damage, mental trauma and how families were ripped apart.
• They insisted that the atrocities of genocide should never be forgotten and the culprits face justice.
• These are the narratives shared by Yazidi refugees who were resettled through Canada’s Survivors of Daesh Program in Calgary and three other major Canadian cities between 2017 and 2019.
• Although our clinic is one of the largest and longest-running specialized refugee health clinics in Canada, the rapid resettlement of 242 Yazidi refugees nearly broke us.

Documenting genocide

• “When genocide is committed, it must be seen.” – Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Nadia Murad
  “When genocide is committed, it must be seen.” – Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Nadia Murad The resulting research is a community- and clinician-engaged cross-sectional study, which was recently published in the JAMA Network Open.
• We offer it as a testament to the world, documenting the depths of human depravity and its darkest impulses.
• The horrors of genocide defy comprehension, but in our ongoing struggle for human rights amid increasing global displacement, we must confront them.
• Yazidi refugees are calling on the world to open its eyes to genocide, while indiscriminate killings and violence against women and children are, yet again, being used as weapons of war in Afghanistan, Ukraine and Sudan.

Refugee health policy summit

• In the final act of healing, Refugee Health YYC will host Yazidi refugee, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Nadia Murad in Calgary, a refugee health policy summit, and for the first time, the North American Refugee Health Conference July 21-23.
• These events will bring together health-care providers, researchers, policymakers and refugee leaders to learn from one another and develop new models to improve health care and well-being for the 108.3 million people forcibly displaced around the world.
• Gabriel E. Fabreau MD, MPH, FRCPC receives research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Alberta Innovates, MSI Foundation, and the University of Calgary.

• Continued investments in connectivity, skills and cybersecurity are critical to maintain and secure Canada’s digital leadership and support digital equity and inclusion.
• TORONTO, Canada, June 20, 2023 — Today, Cisco released the findings of the Cisco Canada Digital Readiness Index, a comprehensive study that measures Canada’s ability to capture the opportunities that digital capabilities and investments create.
• While Canada performed strongly on a global level, ranking 17th out of 146 countries, the Cisco Canada Digital Readiness Index revealed that there are significant discrepancies across provinces and territories.
• To view the full Canada report and/or individual provincial and territorial reports, visit the Cisco Canada Digital Readiness Index webpage.