University says event with One BC leader on residential schools not permitted

Dallas Brodie attends a campaign stop with Conservative Leader John Rustad, not seen, in Vancouver, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VICTORIA — The University of Victoria says it isn’t allowing an event involving the leader of the One BC political party and two people who have publicly questioned suspected unmarked graves on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops.

A letter from the university to One BC Leader Dallas Brodie, Jim McMurtry and Frances Widdowson says the event, scheduled for Tuesday, is not permitted because it did not go through the appropriate booking process and there isn’t enough time to ensure proper safety planning.

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs says it is deeply concerned that the unsanctioned event, under the guise of freedom of speech, will promote residential school denialism and cause further harm to survivors.

Both McMurtry and Widdowson have questioned the May 2021 announcement by the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation that more than 200 suspected unmarked graves had been identified on the grounds of the former school.

Brodie posted online that her caucus would be premiering a documentary the day before the event “produced by elected legislators” about how Canadians have been “guilted by manufactured narratives” into accepting transfers of power to a “multibillion-dollar reconciliation industry.”

In an online post sharing the letter from the university regarding Tuesday’s event, Widdowson says “we’re coming in.”

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs says calls to exhume physical remains of children are a red herring and “blatantly disregard the abundance of well-documented archeological, archival and testimonial evidence which demonstrate that First Nations children died under abusive conditions at residential schools across Canada.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2025.