It began when a researcher claimed to have located 215 bodies of children buried outside a school in Canada. This led to allegations that indigenous children had been left to die and secretly buried outside schools. The allegations took on a life of their own, with claims that children were beheaded and incinerated.

The media erupted, as they always do, and politicians jumped in – announcing new government measures. Questioning the narrative was forbidden. Indeed, those who questioned any aspect of the story were engaged in “denialism” (aka name calling form of propaganda persuasion).

100 churches in Canada were burned to the ground, in protest over the allegations.

No bodies were found. The original 215 bodies turned out to be tiles from an underground septic system.

• Canada’s unmarked graves: How residential schools carried out “cultural genocide” against indigenous children – 60 Minutes – CBS News
• Unmarked Graves at Canada’s Former Indigenous Schools Fuel A Debate – The New York Times
• Unmarked Graves at Residential Schools in Canada: What to Know – The New York Times
• Bill before Parliament would outlaw residential school ‘denialism’ | CBC News (questioning the narrative would be illegal)
• No human remains found 2 years after claims of ‘mass graves’ in Canada
• 3 Years Later, Canadian ‘Mass Graves’ Claims Remain Unproven| National Catholic Register
• No evidence of ‘mass graves’ or ‘genocide’ in residential schools | Fraser Institute
• $7.9 million and 85 burned Catholic Churches later, no unmarked graves found at Indian residential school ‘mass graves’ site in Kamloops, BC – Must Read Alaska
• Canada slowly acknowledging there never was a ‘mass grave’ | National Post
• Canada’s Unproven Mass-Grave Scandal – WSJ
• Canada’s Residential Schools: A Saga of Journalistic Wrongdoing | Mind Matters

The residential school programs had a lot of bad things done in them, but mass burial grounds were apparently not one of them. The U.S. also had residential school programs for Native American children that removed kids from their own culture and traditions. These programs were awful – but they were not incinerating children, as the Canadian story evolved off into space.

Then there’s The Conversation – the web site of the arrogant elite chattering classes: We fact-checked residential school denialists and debunked their ‘mass grave hoax’ theory. They get bent out of shape over whether the words “mass graves” were used or not. Per “them” skeptical questioning, even if later shown to be true, is “denialism”.