James C. McCrae is a former attorney general of Manitoba and a Canadian citizenship judge.Kamloops Indian Band Chief Rosanne Casimir has demonstrated unmitigated shamelessness in calling for the resignation of OneBC leader and Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie. In declaring the number of children’s remains discovered at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School is zero, Brodie merely reinforces Casimir’s own admission that the ground penetrating radar (GPR) findings there were only anomalies, only potential evidence of human bodies.But Casimir nonetheless maintains that the “anomalies” are consistent with secretly buried children, thus perpetuating allegations of a cruel Canadian genocide.Casimir’s initial announcement was made on May 27, 2021. At that time, today’s “anomalies” were the “confirmed” remains of children, some as young as three years. Taxpayers have awarded Casimir’s band millions of dollars to do what her own GPR expert, Sarah Beaulieu, recommended: excavate. .EDITORIAL: Ottawa’s ‘Nation-Building’ pipeline deal comes with a steep price for Alberta.Four and a half years later, no excavation has been conducted. Which leader, Brodie or Casimir, is guilty of working to destroy reconciliation? Casimir has done more than anyone in our history to debase Canada’s reputation as a civilized, caring society and torpedo any chance of real healing for indigenous Canadians. Brodie has been working tirelessly to bring sanity to our national discussion and to bring relief to those indigenous Canadians who, no doubt, would be greatly relieved to know that the mass graves story promoted by Casimir is just that: a story. If anyone must resign, it must be Chief Casimir. Along with her resignation, she and her band must repay Canadian taxpayers the millions they received for excavation, which should have been done years ago. .Canadians are growing more and more frustrated and angry. Nobody likes being lied to.Brodie risks her job as an MLA, her reputation as an experienced lawyer, and her personal safety by putting forward her party’s positions on the important issues facing the people of British Columbia and Canada. Casimir risks nothing, as long as federal and provincial governments continue to support her manipulation, her failure to produce evidence of missing and/or murdered children, and her fraudulent misuse of public funds. .RUBENSTEIN: From revered indigenous storyteller to ‘pretendian’ — Thomas King’s fake indigenous identity crisis sparks backlash.For example, her band has never released the report of GPR operator Sarah Beaulieu. The release was promised, but it never happened. Why?For example, Casimir invites only friendly media — such as CBC — to her media events and excludes journalists who have relevant questions. Why?She fails to question preposterous falsehoods, such as the story that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip kidnapped ten Kamloops school children in 1964. .Chief Casimir has never talked about the many indigenous teachers and other staff who worked with the children at the Kamloops school. She has never referred to the fact that one of the teachers, Joseph Michel, was at the same time chief of the nearby Adams Lake band. She has never referred to the fact that the father of BC’s Chief Justice, the late Liberal cabinet minister and senator Leonard Marchand, Sr., held glowing memories of his time as a student at the school. “I was never abused, and I never heard of anyone else who was mistreated at the Kamloops school.” (From his autobiography, Breaking Trail.)Chief Casimir has never attempted to correct the Memorial Register kept by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the register the Centre says is a list of children who “died at or went missing from” Indian residential schools. Official death registrations confirm that the deaths of many — if not most — of the Kamloops school children listed on the register had nothing to do with their attendance at the school..BORG: Lame duck Liberal MPs looking for international positions with cabinet shuffle coming.Casimir has done absolutely nothing to assuage the hurt felt by the thousands of indigenous Canadians who believe the false story she continues to peddle. Her disgraceful behaviour has led to so much pain for indigenous families that it cannot be described in just a few words. Can she not imagine or appreciate the effect on young Native people when told by a prominent — now famous — chief that their lives are forever scarred by the “confirmation” of the “discovery” of the bodies of 215 indigenous students clandestinely buried in a mass grave?The chief has taken unforgivable advantage of the difficulties experienced by some students, the harms that have been proven to be true. She has minimized and shown contempt for the nurturing of students by innocent and well-meaning teachers and other school staff, indigenous and otherwise. Some of these are still alive, but dare not defend themselves, for fear of being treated as Casimir treats Dallas Brodie today.So, should the BC MLA who courageously sheds light on Casimir’s loathsome behaviour be the one who should resign? As it unfolds and the truth is revealed, history will be much kinder to Dallas Brodie than it will to any manipulating indigenous chief, especially of the ilk of Rosanne Casimir.James C. McCrae is a former attorney general of Manitoba and a Canadian citizenship judge.
