CANADA 'GENOCIDE': Unfounded Claims Get Unverified Coverage
Added on May 5, 2008Vancouver Sun, 22 March 2008, Special by Paul Schratz
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=8dea76d2-5c65-4906-b194-d031fe9fc974
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/editorial/story.html?id=8dea76d2-5c65-4906-b194-d031fe9fc974
Imagine a disgruntled former Liberal going on a national speaking tour, making allegations that the Liberal sponsorship scandal was more massive than anyone ever imagined, implicated numerous officials, involved a conspiracy to conceal tens of thousands of secret payments, and featured hidden bank accounts and influence peddling. It would be an extraordinary story, indeed.
In fact, the revelations would be so startling that no journalists would fail to take the next essential step: Verify.
Verification means examining the credibility of the source of the story and the plausibility of the allegations. It means seeking corroborating sources. And it certainly means giving the alleged conspirators the chance to respond.
For some reason the standards of journalism that apply to political reporting don't quite make the transition to the religion beat. The continuing saga of Kevin Annett is a case in point.
Kevin Annett is a former B.C. [British Columbia] United Church minister who for a decade has been making wild allegations that Catholic, Anglican and United Church-run residential schools were the scenes of horrific murders, torture and genocide. He has alleged a conspiracy to cover up a "Canadian Holocaust" perpetrated against natives, and that the graves of tens of thousands of bodies of babies and children have been concealed by the churches.
Over the years, Annett has told his bizarre tale to anyone who will listen. Police have investigated his allegations on numerous occasions and have dismissed his claims as unfounded. As a result, they, too, have been named as accomplices in his conspiracy to commit genocide.
Now Annett is benefiting from the technology that makes Facebook, and YouTube the phenomena that they are. Alternative media have adopted Annett and his crusade, inviting him to speak on college and co-op radio and repeat his claims unchallenged.
Sadly, mainstream media such as the CBC and the Globe and Mail have begun adopting the standards of the new media, unquestioningly reporting his story and without questioning the veracity or the logic of his claims.
In recent weeks a fortified Annett has ratcheted up his strategy, engaging in more confrontation, serving 72-hour "eviction notices" to churches across the country and issuing "letters of demand" to everyone from the prime minister to the Queen and the Pope. He has refused invitations to meet, instead making outlandish (and untrue) declarations such as accusing the archbishop of Vancouver of having "fled to Mexico."
Last week, Annett's group disrupted Palm Sunday Mass at Holy Rosary Cathedral, ordering the Catholic Church to get off "Squamish territory."
He and his small band of followers now threaten to interrupt Easter Sunday services and occupy churches to mark the "resurrection of the Squamish people."
All of this has been dutifully reported by a number of mainstream media outlets, without a single reporter contacting the Archdiocese of Vancouver to ask for a comment, to ascertain Annett's credibility, or to examine the veracity of his allegations. In fact, only when the Squamish Nation issued a statement condemning the church occupations and declaring that Annett did not represent them did the media even suggest his claims might warrant more scrutiny.
If they did examine Annett's past, they would find he has left a trail of burned bridges and alienation behind him, from his own United Church to natives who have worked with him and have since distanced themselves from him. Reputable first nations groups will have nothing to do with him.
To be clear, the issue is not about whether abuse took place at the residential schools. That sorry history has been well-documented. Criminal charges have been laid where possible, and the legacy of pain and abuse that is the chief byproduct of a failed residential school system has been abundantly documented.
Certainly there are more stories to tell, and more work to be done in rebuilding relations between churches and natives. That is why the archbishop of Vancouver has for more than a decade maintained a thriving and active first nations council, where constructive work is done in the direction of healing and reconciliation.
It's why a national truth and reconciliation commission is about to get underway, with the full participation of the churches.
It's why Christian leaders from coast to coast recently issued additional apologies for the pain and suffering that went on in residential schools and pledged to continue working with natives to build bridges from pain to healing.
Paul Schratz is communications director of the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008