This guy should not be platformed.
I watched two podcasts with Tim Theilman as the guest, talking about reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
On May 6, he was interviewed by Chief Aaron Pete, Chief of the Chawathil First Nation. On May 22, he was interviewed by Kenora council candidate Karla Treadway, who is trying to get elected on October 26.
I think Chief Pete did a good job pushing back against Theilman’s b******t. But I disagree with the fact that he platformed him.
For people thinking of voting for Karla Treadway, I encourage you to watch that interview. She hardly challenged a word Theilman said.
He said reserves are racialized trailer parks. He said Indigenous Peoples were cannibals before Europeans arrived. Karla just nodded along and even agreed with much of his b******t.
In the book Truth Before Reconciliation: Confronting Residential School Denialism, the authors say it is important that people engaging in denialism are not viewed as acting in good faith.
They warn that we must reject the tendency “to take individual episodes in isolation, reading them as distasteful incidents which are largely due to ignorance, misinformation and forgetting.”
That kind of thinking “implicitly tells us that the deniers deny because they do not know, and that, if they knew, they would not deny.”
That is not the case.
We need to see this as a pattern. It is being encouraged and supported by a network of pundits and politicians who are committed to stirring up racism against Indigenous Peoples and undermining truth and reconciliation for their own benefit.
Residential school denialism has grown in popularity, especially on the political right. Media outlets such as Rebel News, True North, Juno News, Western Standard, and even the National Post have promoted or amplified it. Some people have gone on to monetize that misinformation through books, podcasts, documentaries, and political campaigns.
That is exactly what Tim Theilman is doing.
Last year, Theilman made the documentary Making a Killing: Reconciliation, Genocide and Plunder in Canada. That documentary got Dallas Brodie expelled from the BC Conservative caucus in May 2025 after she mocked residential school Survivors.
Guess who Brodie’s former Chief of Staff was.
Tim Theilman.
Now he is the Chief of Staff for Tara Armstrong, who used a Nazi slogan during a debate about a First Nation treaty. She is also a residential school denier.
They are all cut from the same cloth.
Then I came across a powerful open letter to Karla Treadway by Robert Williamson, an Elder from Grassy Narrows First Nation.
Here is part of what he wrote.
I am an Elder of Grassy Narrows First Nation. I have lived my entire life on reserve. I have never thought of my community as a danger to Kenora. I am writing this letter because I heard the comments you made on the podcast, and I need to respond.
I understand you are running to lead the people of Kenora. That is a serious responsibility. A leader is supposed to bring people together, not tear them apart. A leader is supposed to speak the truth, not spread stories that are not true. A leader should never speak about people they do not know as if they know them.
You said reserves are dangerous places. You said people on reserve are likely to die from causes unrelated to health. You said money is being wasted and that everyone is getting paid.
How would you know?
Have you ever lived on a reserve? Have you ever spent time in our community? Have you ever sat with our elders, attended our ceremonies, or walked through our roads? Have you ever asked us what our lives are actually like?
I have lived here my whole life. I know my community. I know our struggles. Those struggles come from decades of mercury poisoning, government neglect, broken promises, and the trauma of residential schools. I also know our strength. I know our families. I know our children. I know our culture. I know our elders.
You do not.
What you are doing is assuming. You are taking a few things you heard and turning them into a story about all of us. That is not leadership. That is not truth. That is spreading hate and division.
The words you speak out loud in front of the Anishinaabe people are very hurtful. You said these things because you think the people of Kenora will agree with you and vote for you. But the people of Kenora are better than that. I know them, and they would never talk like you.
I am writing this because I am an Elder, and I have a responsibility to speak the truth. I have a responsibility to defend my people when they are being spoken about unfairly. I have a responsibility to call on leaders to do better.
If you want to lead Kenora, you need to know Kenora. That means knowing the First Nations around you. That means sitting down with us, listening to us, and learning from us. It means building relationships and respecting the First Nations people who live in and around Kenora.
I ask you to stop spreading information that is not true. Stop painting our communities with a brush you have never earned the right to hold. Stop dividing the very people you want to lead.
A leader brings people together. A leader speaks truth. A leader respects all the people, not just the ones who look like them or live where they live. A leader is kind and humble.
