On February 12, 2015, American reporter Bob Simon, 73, was killed in a car crash. He traveled the world providing interviews for CBS’s popular news program 60 Minutes.

I remember about 15 years ago or so, Bob Simon and his crew, with trailer in tow, pulling into the parking lot of our CTF office in Regina to interview then Saskatchewan Director Richard Truscott.

We were shocked that our fledgling organization had caught the attention of media outside Canada, and particularly one of such fame. (Photo: Left - Richard Truscott, Right - Bob Simon)

60 Minutes was doing a story on the Aboriginal Residential School Abuse and Bob was sent to do the interview.

The CTF was one of the few voices calling for caution. We had no problems providing compensation to those who were abused, but were concerned that everyone was going to be paid whether they were abused or not or even attended a residential school.

I was amazed by the amount of equipment — lights, cameras, mikes and sound — that poured into our offices on Victoria street in Regina.

But perhaps the most stunning thing was how they transformed our cluttered coffee/meeting room into a TV studio.

Our lunch room was typical of most rooms of that nature. Along the walls we had our dedicated fax machine (remember them), our photocopier, a cupboard on which our coffee machine sat. In the middle were the lunchroom tables and chairs.

There were couple of black boards covering much of one wall with all sorts of tax-fighting messages scribbled on them.

We also had tables with petitions and back issues of The Taxpayer pushed against the far wall, along with stacks of chairs for any larger meetings we held in there.

But the clutter didn’t phase the CBS crew. They pushed the tables to the side, cleared out a space in the centre of the room, and set up two chairs for the interview. A number of large TV lights were set up surrounding and pointing down at the two chairs where Paul Simon would interview Richard.

Then they turned off the lights to the room, even taping the bottom of the door so light could not creep in from the adjoining room.

They had also set up screens to reflect any TV light, that threatened to expose our fax machine and kitchen cupboard, back into the centre of the room.

When they were done, you could see nothing along the walls and it looked like Richard was being interviewed in a CBS studio in downtown New York.

Richard never made the final cut for the 60 Minutes news report. It seems that our reasoned approach did not fit the producer’s narrative that everyone, abused or not, should receive payment.