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Skeptics’ documentary on Kamloops residential school graves shelved

A memorial of flowers outside a building.
FILE PHOTO - A memorial at the Kamloops Indian Residential school is seen in this June 8, 2021 file photo. LEVI LANDRY/iNFOnews.ca

A Kamloops filmmaker is under scrutiny for his anti-Semitic online content, leading an Alberta news outlet to abandon its release of a documentary he produced, which ostensibly would have challenged the existence of graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Reporting by the National Observer led to the film, called Dig, being scrapped. It was backed by Juno News, and Kamloops-area videographer Simon Hergott was credited as the producer behind the project.

Hergott has also worked on a number of other projects in the Kamloops area in years previous, including self-made documentaries about water restrictions in Westwold and the White Rock Lake wildfire response near Monte Lake.

The latter got him in trouble with Transport Canada due to his use of a drone, and he later assaulted a Kamloops Search and Rescue volunteer after accusing him of filing the report.

The documentary was cancelled after Juno News was asked about Hergott’s videos posted to his YouTube, which includeed content that promoted anti-Semitism, pro-Nazi rhetoric and claims disparaging First Nations, according to the National Observer report.

He has worked with former university professor Frances Widdowson and OneBC MLA Dallas Brodie for multiple projects about the Kamloops Indian Residential School, but existence of the Juno News production, on which he collaborated with Widdowson, has almost entirely been scrubbed from the outlet’s website and social media.

The documentary’s website still exists, but it requires a login to access it.

It’s been more than four years since Tk’emlups announced its discovery of the suspected graves, and it has recently issued an update to its investigation.

There were few specific updates, but the First Nation did say it used multiple different techniques to investigate the site and narrowed down the search area. Whether the estimated number of graves has changed isn’t clear, but the First Nation also said it remains unclear whether they will ever be excavated.

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Levi Landry

Levi is a recent graduate of the Communications, Culture, & Journalism program at Okanagan College and is now based in Kamloops. After living in the BC for over four years, he finds the blue collar and neighbourly environment in the Thompson reminds him of home in Saskatchewan. Levi, who has previously been published in Kelowna’s Daily Courier, is passionate about stories focussed on both social issues and peoples’ experiences in their local community. If you have a story or tips to share, you can reach Levi at 250 819 3723 or email LLandry@infonews.ca.

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