What to use as assembly lube for brakes

[Grimly]

This could be considered a stupid question, could anti-seize be used on the pins and on the back of the pad shims?

Well, it's been used for decades on the backs of car pads and shims (at the instigation of the manufacturers of the vehicles, too), but I've always been a bit leary of slapping it on bike pads, but I know others do, with no bad results. I prefer to sort out the bike calipers without it, and only use it on bolts that should never be allowed to seize up through corrosion. The two caliper retaining bolts, for example