UBC and “Grave Error” Propaganda

On January 22, 2026, Frances Widdowson will be coming to the University of British Columbia (UBC) to have discussions with faculty, students, staff and the public to challenge its “grave error” propaganda. The University of British Columbia is one of the most prestigious research universities in Canada, and should be facilitating open inquiry and evidence-based reasoning, not promoting the false claim that the “remains of 215 children” have been “confirmed” at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, and the related claim that Canada “committed genocide”. The responsibility for maintaining “excellence” in education at UBC falls on Dr. Gage Averill, the Provost and Vice-President, Academic.

Education about the residential schools at UBC, however, is seriously failing. When the Kamloops Indian Band put out the false statement about the “remains of 215 children” being “confirmed”, the UBC President reinforced it. This statement has not been retracted.

This kind of statement was also issued by the UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology.

UBC’s “School of Information” also put out a statement.

Most significantly, UBC’s Department of Anthropology, home of the GPR operator Andrew Martindale – one of the academics who has put his expertise behind the claim that GPR can confirm remains – also weighed in.

Also significant is the role played by the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre. In 2021, the Centre was headed by Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.

In the UBC President’s announcement in May 2021, the UBC President also mentioned the Indian Residential Schools History and Dialogue Centre. In this statement, he referred to an apology issued at the opening of the Centre in 2018.

Although one could be charitable about the actions of UBC in repeating the Kamloops Indian Band’s claims about “The 215”, this can no longer be the case. On the first anniversary of the Kamloops Indian Band’s false claim, when it was known on July 15, 2021 (Sarah Beaulieu’s presentation) that only 200 anomalies, not 215 “remains of children” in “unmarked graves” had been “confirmed”, the UBC President again repeated the falsehood.

UBC’s First Nations House of Learning also made a statement 10 months after it was known that the Kamloops Indian Band’s claims were false. According to Grok,

The time is now to hold UBC accountable. In this regard, three areas need to be exposed – the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, the First Nations House of Learning, and the Department of Anthropology. It is the falsehoods perpetrated by these bodies that has given legitimacy to the highly dubious claim that Canada “committed genocide” against the aboriginal population (as is shown by the First Nations House of Learning statement above). This claim is even promoted today by the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.