B.C. Conservatives have ousted MLA Dallas Brodie from caucus over comments she made about residential schools, while another MLA is leaving in solidarity with Brodie and saying he will form a new party.
Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad said Brodie is “not welcome” to return to caucus for using a “mocking, child-like voice” when talking about testimonies of residential school students during a podcast interview, and after walking out of a meeting about the issue on March 6.
“As a result of her decision to publicly mock and belittle testimony from former residential school students, including by mimicking individuals recounting stories of abuses, including child sexual abuse, MLA Brodie is not welcome to return to our Conservative Party of BC caucus,” Rustad said in a statement on March 6.
Rustad said Brodie, who represents the Vancouver-Quilchena riding, had “challenged” the party to fire her by asking for a vote on her removal.
“I believe strongly in free speech – however, using your stature and platform as an MLA to mock testimony from victims alleging abuse, is where I draw the line,” he said.
In a March 3 podcast interview hosted by Frances Widdowson, a former professor at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, Brodie talked about the backlash she received after posting comments about the case of a lawyer challenging the BC Law Society over its residential school training materials.
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Brodie has been critical of claims of mass grave-sites of children being found at residential school sites, saying there is no evidence confirming the reports.
“The number of confirmed child burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site is zero,” she said in a Feb. 22 post on the X platform, adding “No one should be afraid of the truth.”
In May 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc said it had found the remains of 215 children at a residential school site in Kamloops using ground penetrating radar.
In a March 4 letter to the BC Law Society, Brodie asked for changes to materials used in in its mandatory indigenous course for lawyers. She said the Kamloops residential schools findings were anomalies and not confirmed grave sites.
In her March 3 interview, she said Rustad asked her to take down the post because “people are upset.”
She also spoke on the podcast about fellow Conservative MLA A’aliyah Warbus, a member of the Sto:lo Nation, who was “super angry and went to town.”
In a Feb. 24 post, Warbus urged support for former residential school students.
“Inform yourself, get the latest facts, research AND talk to survivors. Questioning the narratives of people who lived and survived these atrocities, is nothing but harmful and taking us backward in reconciliation,” Warbus wrote in the post.
In a March 7 post on the X platform, Brodie said that she “spoke the truth because it matters. I will never back down from it.”
She continued, “It is an indisputable fact that the number of bodies discovered at Kamloops is zero.”
In the podcast interview, Brodie said she is receiving support from within her party.
”I will tell you that there are probably … close to 20 people who have been spoken to me separately.”
On March 7, fellow Conservative MLA Jordan Kealy announced he will leave the party in solidarity with Brodie.
“The party has created an environment where some so-called ‘Conservatives’ would rather throw cheap insults than deal with facts. There were no apologies, no accountability, and I refused to stand with those who either enabled or ignored that kind of behavior,” Kealy said.
He said he will form a new party, noting that parties can obtain official status with two members.
