Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Non-partisan think tank calling for Public Inquiry into “Kamloops Graves Hoax”

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Canada Needs a Public Inquiry into the “Kamloops Graves Hoax”
Call for a public inquiry is a step towards uncovering the truth and ensuring such a national scandal never happens again
WINNIPEG, June 28, 2024 – The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is urgently calling for a public inquiry into what has become known as the “Kamloops Graves Hoax.” The May 27, 2021, claim by the Kamloops Indian Band regarding the discovery of “human remains” in the apple orchard area of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School caused national hysteria and moral panic, both domestically and internationally. However, recent admissions have revealed these claims to be false.
In a press release issued three years after the sensational claims, Chief Roseanne Casimir of the Kamloops Indian Band finally admitted that there were no “human remains,” “bodies,” “graves,” or “mass graves” found at Kamloops. What was initially reported as grave sites turned out to be mere soil anomalies, which could easily be attributed to tree roots, rocks, or remnants of prior excavations. Notably, a 1924 excavation in the same area was likely the source of the detected soil disturbances.
The 2021 claims triggered a wave of national and international reactions, including lowered flags, burned churches, and widespread media coverage. These events also prompted the ailing Pope to visit Canada, led MPs to condemn their own country as genocidal, and resulted in the enactment of costly legislation. The Canadian government allocated millions of dollars towards the search for “missing children,” who, as it turns out, never existed. The entire episode is a blemish on Canada’s history, highlighting the need for a thorough public inquiry.
Chief Casimir stated that the initial claims were based on a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) report prepared by Sarah Beaulieu, a young anthropologist from the University of the Fraser Valley. However, it is widely known that GPR can only detect soil anomalies, not graves or human remains. The actual content of Beaulieu’s report remains undisclosed, as the Kamloops Indian Band has refused to release it despite initially promising to do so. This raises serious questions about the veracity of their claims and the possibility that the band knew the information was false.
The Kamloops Indian Band applied for and received $8,000,000 from the federal government based on their false claims. Neither the band nor the federal government has provided details about the representations made to secure these funds or how the money was spent, especially given that no excavation has taken place.
The refusal of the Kamloops Indian Band to release the GPR report, coupled with the federal government’s silence on the matter, indicates a need for a thorough investigation. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will not investigate unless requested by the Kamloops Band. This leaves the Canadian public in the dark about how and why millions of taxpayer dollars were spent based on a false premise.
The claims made on May 27, 2021, have caused significant disruption in Canada, damaged the nation’s reputation, and led to misleading narratives being taught in schools. It is crucial to understand how these false claims were propagated and why. A public inquiry is essential to provide clarity and accountability and to restore public trust.
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy calls for this inquiry to ensure transparency and address the grave mistakes that have been made. Canadians deserve to know the truth and to hold accountable those who have misled the nation.
About the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan think tank that conducts research and analysis on a wide range of public policy issues. Committed to promoting economic freedom, individual liberty, and responsible governance, the Centre aims to contribute to informed public debates and shape effective policies that benefit Canadians.
Business
It Took Trump To Get Canada Serious About Free Trade With Itself

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Lee Harding
Trump’s protectionism has jolted Canada into finally beginning to tear down interprovincial trade barriers
The threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs and the potential collapse of North American free trade have prompted Canada to look inward. With international trade under pressure, the country is—at last—taking meaningful steps to improve trade within its borders.
Canada’s Constitution gives provinces control over many key economic levers. While Ottawa manages international trade, the provinces regulate licensing, certification and procurement rules. These fragmented regulations have long acted as internal trade barriers, forcing companies and professionals to navigate duplicate approval processes when operating across provincial lines.
These restrictions increase costs, delay projects and limit job opportunities for businesses and workers. For consumers, they mean higher prices and fewer choices. Economists estimate that these barriers hold back up to $200 billion of Canada’s economy annually, roughly eight per cent of the country’s GDP.
Ironically, it wasn’t until after Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement that it began to address domestic trade restrictions. In 1994, the first ministers signed the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), committing to equal treatment of bidders on provincial and municipal contracts. Subsequent regional agreements, such as Alberta and British Columbia’s Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement in 2007, and the New West Partnership that followed, expanded cooperation to include broader credential recognition and enforceable dispute resolution.
In 2017, the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) replaced the AIT to streamline trade among provinces and territories. While more ambitious in scope, the CFTA’s effectiveness has been limited by a patchwork of exemptions and slow implementation.
Now, however, Trump’s protectionism has reignited momentum to fix the problem. In recent months, provincial and territorial labour market ministers met with their federal counterpart to strengthen the CFTA. Their goal: to remove longstanding barriers and unlock the full potential of Canada’s internal market.
According to a March 5 CFTA press release, five governments have agreed to eliminate 40 exemptions they previously claimed for themselves. A June 1 deadline has been set to produce an action plan for nationwide mutual recognition of professional credentials. Ministers are also working on the mutual recognition of consumer goods, excluding food, so that if a product is approved for sale in one province, it can be sold anywhere in Canada without added red tape.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has signalled that his province won’t wait for consensus. Ontario is dropping all its CFTA exemptions, allowing medical professionals to begin practising while awaiting registration with provincial regulators.
Ontario has partnered with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to implement mutual recognition of goods, services and registered workers. These provinces have also enabled direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, letting individuals purchase alcohol directly from producers for personal consumption.
A joint CFTA statement says other provinces intend to follow suit, except Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
These developments are long overdue. Confederation happened more than 150 years ago, and prohibition ended more than a century ago, yet Canadians still face barriers when trying to buy a bottle of wine from another province or find work across a provincial line.
Perhaps now, Canada will finally become the economic union it was always meant to be. Few would thank Donald Trump, but without his tariffs, this renewed urgency to break down internal trade barriers might never have emerged.
Lee Harding is a research fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
2025 Federal Election
The Cost of Underselling Canadian Oil and Gas to the USA

From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
Canadians can now track in real time how much revenue the country is forfeiting to the United States by selling its oil at discounted prices, thanks to a new online tracker from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. The tracker shows the billions in revenue lost due to limited access to distribution for Canadian oil.
At a time of economic troubles and commercial tensions with the United States, selling our oil at a discount to U.S. middlemen who then sell it in the open markets at full price will rob Canada of nearly $19 billion this year, said Marco Navarro-Genie, the VP of Research at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Navarro-Genie led the team that designed the counter.
The gap between world market prices and what Canada receives is due to the lack of Canadian infrastructure.
According to a recent analysis by Ian Madsen, senior policy analyst at the Frontier Centre, the lack of international export options forces Canadian producers to accept prices far below the world average. Each day this continues, the country loses hundreds of millions in potential revenue. This is a problem with a straightforward remedy, said David Leis, the Centre’s President. More pipelines need to be approved and built.
While the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline has helped, more is needed. It commenced commercial operations on May 1, 2024, nearly tripling Canada’s oil export capacity westward from 300,000 to 890,000 barrels daily. This expansion gives Canadian oil producers access to broader global markets, including Asia and the U.S. West Coast, potentially reducing the price discount on Canadian crude.
This is more than an oil story. While our oil price differential has long been recognized, there’s growing urgency around our natural gas exports. The global demand for cleaner energy, including Canadian natural gas, is climbing. Canada exports an average of 12.3 million GJ of gas daily. Yet, we can still not get the full value due to infrastructure bottlenecks, with losses of over $7.3 billion (2024). A dedicated counter reflecting these mounting gas losses underscores how critical this issue is.
“The losses are not theoretical numbers,” said Madsen. “This is real money, and Canadians can now see it slipping away, second by second.”
The Frontier Centre urges policymakers and industry leaders to recognize the economic urgency and ensure that infrastructure projects like TMX are fully supported and efficiently utilized to maximize Canada’s oil export potential. The webpage hosting the counter offers several examples of what the lost revenue could buy for Canadians. A similar counter for gas revenue lost through similarly discounted gas exports will be added in the coming days.
What Could Canada Do With $25.6 Billion a Year?
Without greater pipeline capacity, Canada loses an estimated (2025) $25.6 billion by selling our oil and gas to the U.S. at a steep discount. That money could be used in our communities — funding national defence, hiring nurses, supporting seniors, building schools, and improving infrastructure. Here’s what we’re giving up by underselling these natural resources.

342,000 Nurses
The average annual salary for a registered nurse in Canada is about $74,958. These funds could address staffing shortages and improve patient care nationwide.
Source

39,000 New Housing Units
At an estimated $472,000 per unit (excluding land costs, based on Toronto averages), $25.6 billion could fund nearly 94,000 affordable housing units.
Source
About the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
The Frontier Centre for Public Policy is an independent Canadian think-tank that researches and analyzes public policy issues, including energy, economics and governance.
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