Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe has filed a formal complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner after Coun. Lisa Robinson published a video questioning findings related to the former Kamloops Residential School — the latest in a long line of controversies involving the Ward 1 councillor.
Robinson posted a nearly four-minute video titled “215 ‘Mass Graves’ at Kamloops: Zero Bodies Found After 5 Years — The Lie Exposed” on her YouTube page on April 9. In it, she repeatedly questions the validity of the findings and the reporting that first emerged in May 2021.
“We were told a nightmare, and we reacted with horror. Now we know the nightmare was exaggerated, manipulated, and unproven. The real tragedy is the loss of trust, the pain inflicted on everyone and the mischance of honest remembrance,” Robinson said in the video.
In a statement issued Monday, Ashe said Robinson’s remarks caused harm to Indigenous community members, survivors, and families, calling her comments “deeply hurtful” and incompatible with the city’s commitment to reconciliation.
Ashe emphasized that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented the systemic abuses of residential schools through testimony from more than 6,500 survivors and witnesses, and that these truths “are not matters for political speculation or denial.”
The mayor confirmed he has filed an official complaint with the integrity commissioner, who will now review the matter independently. Ashe also said the city is in discussions with Indigenous partners about how to support healing and reaffirmed Pickering’s commitment to “truth, compassion, humility, and friendship.”
Robinson has been sanctioned multiple times in recent years, including a 90‑day pay suspension in 2024 for conduct violations and a prior 60‑day suspension in 2023 for comments deemed transphobic and homophobic.
Robinson pushes back, accuses mayor of misrepresenting her remarks
In her own statement, Robinson accused Ashe of “deliberately misrepresenting” her comments and said she has never denied the documented harms of residential schools.
Robinson argued that her video focused specifically on the 2021 announcement by Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation regarding 215 potential burial sites detected through ground‑penetrating radar. She claimed the First Nation’s February 2026 update shows “zero confirmed human remains,” and said questioning the evidence is not denialism.
“Real reconciliation cannot be built on preliminary radar anomalies presented as proven mass graves,” Robinson said, adding that elected officials should not be “silenced” for asking questions.
She said she welcomes the integrity commissioner’s review, stating, “Facts matter, and Canadians deserve them.”
The integrity commissioner will now determine whether Robinson’s latest comments breach Pickering’s Code of Conduct. If so, she could face another suspension — her ninth since 2022.
