Talk:2021 in Canada

Latest comment: 1 year ago by 7288P in topic The year of the graves

The year of the graves edit

In 2021, many unmarked gravesites from residential schools were discovered. Except none of that was true.

I'll give links to the debunking article in question:[1]

Apparently, this started as a mistaken story about a "mass grave" of 215 children being discovered, reported by The New York Times (link to the original New York Times story:[2]). This snowballed into a story about the discovery of many unmarked graves of residential Indian schoolchildren being secretly murdered by catholic priests, once several media outlets began reporting on it - every time not fact checking. This spiral and outrage became so huge it eventually led to the burning of many churches and books, the removal of statues, to Justin Trudeau taking a knee at a public cemetery and to an Inuit women being appointed the governor-general.

What happened last summer what quite intense and had a lot of fallout. It should be talked about. However, the fact that this was a small story which spiraled out of control by many media outlets reporting on each other without fact checking, all the way into a story about Catholic priests having supposedly killed thousands of Native American children in secret should be mentioned. Some of the "discoveries" cited in this list are still being stated as if it were fact, for example. I'm not sure how it should be addressed. Maybe add a sentence after stating it was fake? Maybe remove a few if that specific "discovery" did not have that much impact? I would like other users to discuss on how to handle this. 7288P (talk) 20:11, 27 May 2022 (UTC)Reply

References

  1. ^ Glavin, Terry (27 May 2022). "The year of the graves: How the world's media got it wrong on residential school graves". National Post.
  2. ^ Austen, Ian (28 May 2021). "'Horrible History': Mass Grave of Indigenous Children Reported in Canada". The New York Times.