Rosemary Barton’s fact check contradicts the facts, CBC issues rare correction
CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton is facing scrutiny after making a false statement about the discovery of Indigenous residential school sites.
CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton is facing scrutiny after making a false statement about the discovery of Indigenous residential school sites remarks that contradicted her own network’s corrections.
During a live panel discussion following the French-language federal leaders’ debate on April 16, Barton claimed: “Yes, there have been remains of Indigenous children found in various places across the country…”
Her comment appeared to be an attempt to discredit Rebel News, whose reporter Drea Humphrey had questioned NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh against anti-Christian hatred as it relates to the residential school tale of 2022.
However, CBC issued a clarification the next day, walking back Barton’s assertion.
Under its “Corrections and Clarifications” section, the public broadcaster stated: “As CBC News has reported on multiple occasions, what several Indigenous communities across Canada have discovered on the sites of some former residential schools are potential burial sites or unmarked graves.”
The statement confirmed that no human remains have yet been confirmed.
Rebel News founder Ezra Levant, called Barton’s claim “a lie,” and highlighted the clear irony of her accusing his company Rebel News of misinformation.
The controversy started at Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia, where in 2021, a discovery of ground-penetrating radar anomalies sparked global headlines, eventually leading to accusations of genocide against Canada and its Catholic church.
Despite the widespread assumption that the anomalies indicated mass graves, no remains have been found following excavation attempts.
The incident has also cast a spotlight on longstanding tensions between Rebel News and CBC, a publicly funded broadcaster often criticized by conservatives for partisan bias.
Barton’s specific targeting of Humphrey added to accusations that CBC selectively discredits dissenting journalists from independent platforms, who do not receive state funds.
The broader narrative surrounding treatment of indigenous children in residential schools has been complicated by figures such as Kevin Annett.
Annett is a defrocked United Church minister and activist, whose 2001 book Hidden from History alleges mass murders and medical experiments at Kamloops and other sites.
His claims, based on unverified survivor testimony, have never been proven in court.
It’s bad enough our tax dollars fund CBC, but even worse that they are used to lie and spread misinformation and propaganda. #defundtheCBC and fire Rosemary Barton. Support independent media like Juno.
Buying the MSM is just another way of CONTROLING THE PEOPLE. CBC should be ashamed that they call themselves Journalists. I and most Canadians are on to them in there bias ways. BTW Carney, we are on to you as well.