Hymie Rubenstein ——Bio and Archives--January 1, 2026

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The instantaneous reaction to this declaration was angry vigils, public displays of grief and shame, solidarity speeches, and promises to revolutionize society as we know it. Flags on government buildings were lowered to half-mast on Canada Day — and remained so for almost six months — turning what was once a day of national celebration into one of national mourning and recrimination.

Statues of former Canadian heroes were defaced, destroyed or removed, alongside demands to rename streets and public schools to unpronounceable indigenous ones.

Some Catholics even claimed to have lost their faith over the announcement, as dozens of churches of many denominations were vandalized and burnt both on and off indigenous reserves.

Given the horrific nature of the Band's charges, the amount of immediate public moral panic and outrage is understandable. In retrospect, however, it looks more like a typical knee-jerk reaction to fake news, much like the Satanic Panic that began in British Columbia in 1980, spreading around the world over the next 10 years.

And like the Satanic Panic, there's now a growing movement to rethink the Kamloops hysteria by restoring some of what was destroyed, defaced, or taken down in the past five years.

This campaign, led by politicians past and present, historians, and members of the public, is focused on bringing back some of those monuments, in particular ones of Canada's first and greatest prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, most of whose commemorative statues have all but disappeared from public spaces.

In short, there are growing signs the pendulum is slowly swinging back because of this new advocacy, some led by important public figures.

Ontario Premier Doug........

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