Conservatives criticize CBC prank series on residential schools

Conservative politicians in Canada have criticized the CBC for funding "Northland Tales," a satirical prank series produced for CBC Entertainment and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network that used deceptive tactics to interview individuals who have questioned aspects of the residential school legacy.

The controversy emerged this week after Frances Widdowson, who has publicly challenged claims about unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, posted an 11-minute video from her interview. Producers presented the session under false pretenses as a serious discussion, but toward the end placed a pile of children's shoes in front of her, a symbol widely associated with children who died or disappeared from residential schools following 2021 announcements of potential graves at Kamloops, British Columbia. Widdowson confronted the host on camera, saying, "I've got nothing to be ashamed of. I just don't like being lied to." She added, "I was given a sense it was something different than what it was, but that's kind of part of the thrill of it, I guess."

The Indigenous Screen Office, which supports Indigenous media projects with federal funding, describes...