B.C. MLA files private prosecution alleging terrorism, gets shouted at by pro-Palestinian protesters

One BC Leader Dallas Brodie speaks outside Vancouver provincial court on Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. (CTV News)

The leader of an upstart B.C. political party was met with protesters in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside on Wednesday as she attempted to advance the prosecution of an alleged terrorist.

Dallas Brodie – the Vancouver-Quilchena MLA who co-founded and was named leader of One BC earlier this year after being kicked out of the B.C. Conservative Party for her views on residential schools – filed a private prosecution against Charlotte Kates at Vancouver provincial court on Main Street Wednesday morning.

Kates is a director of Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian group that was designated a terrorist organization by the federal government last year. She was arrested in April 2024 after allegedly praising the October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel as “heroic and brave” in a speech at a rally.

While the Vancouver Police Department has recommended hate-related charges to the B.C. Prosecution Service, the agency has not yet approved any.

Brodie’s private prosecution seeks to charge Kates with a variety of terrorism offences. The information she filed with the court Wednesday cites alleged public statements by Kates and Samidoun as the grounds for as many as six counts of counselling commission of terrorism offences, three counts of facilitating terrorist activity, two counts of instructing to carry out terrorist activity and one count each of participating in the activity of a terrorist group and leaving Canada to participate in the activity of a terrorist group.

All of the alleged crimes in the information stem from Kates’ past alleged statements. The document does not include any allegations of violence committed by Kates.

Brodie scheduled a news conference outside the courthouse, but her initial attempt to speak about her filing was met – and shouted down – by a group of protesters waving Palestinian flags and holding signs referencing both Israel’s war on Gaza and Brodie’s right-wing views.

Protesters called Brodie a “fascist” and a “right-wing bigot.” They also chanted “when people are occupied, resistance is justified.”

At a rescheduled news conference, Brodie characterized Kates as a threat to British Columbians.

“The indicators are here that it is only a matter of time until something truly horrible happens,” she said. “And if the NDP, (Premier) David Eby and (Attorney General) Niki Sharma will not prosecute terrorism, I will.”

Notably, neither the premier nor the attorney general has the power to lay charges in B.C. That power rests with the BCPS.

Speaking to CTV News via Zoom, Sharma said the province takes hate crime prosecution “very seriously,” but added that terrorism offences are prosecuted by the federal government, and would be the responsibility of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.

“My understanding of Brodie’s request is that it falls on the wrong level of government,” Sharma said. “If it’s related to terrorism charges, then that would be at a federal level. So that’s a misunderstanding, I think, that she’s making in her ask.”

When a member of the public files a private prosecution, Crown prosecutors with the BCPS review the allegations and either proceed with a prosecution or direct a stay of proceedings, according to the agency’s policy manual.

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