On May 19, 2026, Aaron Pete interviewed Karen Restoule on his Nuanced podcast. Restoule is Director of Indigenous Affairs and a Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
The whole podcast is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aaron+pete+and+restoule
Restoule first mentions the Kamloops case at 31:05. In this, Restoule makes the false claim that aboriginal groups had not referred to a “mass grave” and they talked about “anomalies”: “none of the First Nations leaders at the time had had called it [a mass grave]. They simply said there’s there’s anomalies there. uh we’re doing the work. Uh we highly suspect that these are are the deaths that we know in our community. Uh you know, there were there were kids that went to residential residential school and never made it back. There were families who have been left with questions. Um and they simply said, you know,some of our kids died and and we don’t know where they are and they might be here”.
Restoule’s assertion is not true. The Kamloops Indian Band referred to the “remains of 215 children” being “confirmed” on May 27, 2021 (the fact that there were 215 “remains” understandably led media outlets like The New York Times to assume that this was a “mass grave”). It was only in 2024, three years later, that the Kamloops Indian Band replaced the word “remains” with “anomalies”.
Rosanne Casimir referred to a mass grave twice in resolutions before the AFN and BCAFN in July 2021 and September 2021. Many other aboriginal leaders also referred to a “mass grave”.
At 36:22-41:33 Pete specifically asks a number of questions about the Kamloops case. 1. “Do you think they should excavate in Kamloops?”
2. “Even if it causes polarization across the country around some of these questions?”
3. “I guess the critics would say, then why apply for the money? If the if the goal isn’t to excavate and to get some of those answers, what was the purpose in doing ground penetrating radar to determine that you think it may be in a certain spot?”
Pete also asks Restoule a number of other very important questions related to the Kamloops case, such as “Is there a reconciliation industry?” (at 41:33).
“When does reconciliation end?” (at 47:07):
Restoule answers the question “when does reconciliation end?” with the following:
