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The University of Victoria (UVic) became ground zero for chaos on December 2, when hundreds of counter-protesters descended on the campus to shut down what PhD scholar Dr. Frances Widdowson intended to be a peaceful, open-air discussion about the debunked claim that 215 children’s remains were discovered at the former Kamloops Indian Residential school.

The same conversation was permitted to take place just weeks earlier at Thompson Rivers University, but at UVic, the “battle of the minds” was not permitted to occur.

Widdowson, a vocal advocate for free expression, had planned to walk the campus and speak with willing students about how their school is still misleading them into believing that the discovery of 215 graves had occurred, and the lack of evidence to support such disinformation. Instead, the institution had her arrested for trespassing after deeming her presence and plans an unauthorized event that they could not safely manage.

Also unwelcome on campus were OneBC Party Leader Dallas Brodie and members of her staff. The party had recently released its documentary, Making a Killing, which challenges the Kamloops claim and exposes how vast sums of taxpayer dollars have been funnelled into a reconciliation industry that, in many cases, does not directly benefit people on reserves.

While the university shut down Widdowson’s informal walk-and-talk, it allowed a sanctioned counter-protest to go ahead. Hundreds of students participated, led by activists who falsely claimed that Widdowson’s effort to discuss the lack of evidence for what many consider the greatest hoax in Canadian history was an attack on the stories of their own relatives who attended residential schools.

In an email ahead of Widdowson’s arrival forbidding her attendance at the publicly funded institution, the head of campus security, Jessica MacLean, told Widdowson there wasn’t enough time to ensure proper safety protocols for her presence. Yet, the only violent acts witnessed did not come from Widdowson or members of the OneBC Party. Instead, hostility emerged from some in attendance at the school's sanctioned rally, including two individuals who harassed me, our camera person, and the security team we hired to keep us safe.

Far-Left activist and musician Logan Staats, who has a criminal history for pipeline blocking, also allegedly assaulted a man known online as “Droucouver,” who said he was filming Staats throwing smoke bombs at OneBC Party Chief of Staff Tim Theilmann, who is blind.