Pickering councillor Lisa Robinson fires back at mayor over Kamloops residential school remarks

Robinson has been sanctioned several times, including a 90‑day pay suspension in 2024 for conduct violations and a 60‑day pay suspension in 2023 for comments deemed 'homophobic and transphobic'

Published Apr 22, 2026  •  Last updated 18 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Screenshot of Lisa Robinson from X video. Photo by @LifelibertyLisa /X

The feud between Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe and City Councillor Lisa Robinson isn’t ending anytime soon.

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Ashe filed a formal complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner after the controversial councillor posted a video on her YouTube page in which she questioned the findings related to the former Kamloops Residential School.

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In the nearly four-minute video titled “215 ‘Mass Graves’ at Kamloops: Zero Bodies Found After 5 Years — The Lie Exposed” published on April 9, the Ward 1 councillor questions the validity of the findings and the reporting that first emerged in May 2021, after the remains of 215 children were found in an unmarked burial site on the grounds of a former residential school in B.C.

“We were told a nightmare, and we reacted with horror. Now we know the nightmare was exaggerated, manipulated, and unproven,” Robinson says in her video. “The real tragedy is the loss of trust, the pain inflicted on everyone and the mischance of honest remembrance.”

‘Harmful comments,’ according to Ashe

Ashe apologized to Indigenous community members, survivors, families and those affected by the councillor’s remarks — though he didn’t publicly name Robinson.

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“Comments that dismiss, distort, or cast doubt on the truths shared by survivors and Indigenous communities are deeply hurtful,” Ashe said in a statement on Monday. “They undermine reconciliation, re-traumatize those carrying the legacy of residential schools, and have no place in respectful public discourse.”

The mayor confirmed that an official complaint was filed, while he, other members of council and city staff “are in conversation with Indigenous community partners on how to support healing,” and reaffirmed Pickering’s commitment to “truth, compassion, humility, and friendship.”

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Taken ‘completely out of context’

Robinson has since posted another social media video, claiming Ashe misrepresented her remarks.

“Mayor Ashe took my words completely out of context, twisted them and used them for a very public virtue signal,” she said before clarifying her comments.

“I pointed out one simple documented fact: That the 2021 Kamloops announcement of the 215 children found in mass graves was never supported by the evidence at the time and five years later, it still isn’t,” she said in an X video on Tuesday.

“The Tk’emlups [te Secwepemc] First Nations on February 17, 2026, update confirms that after millions of taxpayer dollars and multiple high-tech surveys, they have found zero confirmed human remains, zero graves and zero bodies. Some areas have been ruled out entirely, while others show only signatures that resemble burials,” Robinson said.

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“The whole narrative has changed — and that’s not denial. That is not dismissal of survivors,” she said in defence of her remarks.

“That is a factual correction to a story that was turned into national shame, church burnings, and statue topplings before a single shovel ever hit the ground.”

She continued: “I never questioned the real harms of residential schools. Those harms are real and documented. And I never dismissed survivors’ experiences. Those experiences are real, they are important, and they also must be honoured.”

Robinson added: “I simply asked for the truth to match the headlines.”

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She went on to say that “real reconciliation cannot be built on preliminary radar anomalies presented as proven mass graves,” adding that elected officials should not be “silenced” for asking questions.

Ashe and Robinson’s rocky history

Robinson has been sanctioned several times in recent years, including a 90‑day pay suspension in 2024 for conduct violations and a 60‑day pay suspension in 2023 for comments deemed “homophobic and transphobic,” which she denied at the time.

The integrity commissioner will now examine whether Robinson’s latest comments breach Pickering’s Code of Conduct.

If it has been determined that she has, she could face another suspension, her ninth since 2022.

For what it’s worth, Robinson welcomed another review by the integrity commissioner.

“Facts matter, and Canadians deserve them.”

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