A 13-year-old boy helping organize a peaceful vigil for Charlie Kirk in Vancouver says he will not back down as activists prepare to protest the memorial while spreading misinformation about my unrelated journalism as an excuse to do so.

The candlelight vigil is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 10, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Vancouver Art Gallery, marking one year since Kirk was assassinated.

Teen organizer Daniel Theile has partnered with True Blue Vancouver municipal candidates, including Naomi Chocyk and Fenton Travers, to provide a space for people who were touched by Kirk's life and work to gather, remember him and grieve.

CHARLIE KIRK:

13-year-old Daniel Theile is organizing a Vancouver vigil for Kirk on the one-year anniversary of his assassination. pic.twitter.com/mkNkhi7d5t

— Drea Humphrey (@DreaHumphrey) September 6, 2026

“I decided to organize this event because I believed in everything Charlie said,” Theile told Rebel News. “I wanted to commemorate him, his family, and supporters by holding a vigil in honour of him.”

While receiving a lot of support, the family-friendly memorial is facing angry and misguided pushback.

Activists associated with promoting the unsubstantiated “215” Kamloops residential school grave discovery claim have called for people to protest the vigil despite that issue having nothing to do with Kirk, Theile or the purpose of tonight's gathering.

“Our vigil is not meant to be political, but to remember a human being who fought for freedom,” Theile said. “The protesters will be protesting about the residential school claims, which have nothing to do with this event.”

Theile says the backlash will not intimidate him into cancelling.

“I am not backing down from this memorial because I believe everyone should have the right to commemorate anyone they believe in,” he said, adding that he “really loved what Charlie stood for” and wants to honour his legacy.

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Some activists have publicly tied the vigil to me, falsely telling their allies that I am organizing or promoting it to bring Charlie Kirk's American political movement into Canada.

They've also falsely characterized my years of reporting on the Kamloops band's controversial “215” claim and Rebel News' new orange shirt campaign calling for greater transparency from the band government as “residential school denialism.”

They lie. I'm not organizing the vigil. I never said I was, and I've never denied residential schools or the very real harms that took place in them.

Nevertheless, it appears they've rallied around a bogus excuse to target what they're really in denial about: not only the truth surrounding the Kamloops band's “215” claim, but the fact that although Kirk no longer walks among us, his vision lives on through young people like Daniel Theile who freely and boldly choose to carry it forward.

The controversy has nevertheless been dragged into calls to protest tonight's completely unrelated vigil. The rhetoric has also gone far beyond criticism of my reporting or Charlie Kirk's work.

Posts and messages directed at me have included a barrage of racial slurs, threats against me and my children, comments wishing that I would be murdered like Kirk, and others mocking or celebrating Kirk's assassination.

WATCH: See one of the videos targeting me here.

215 UNMARKED GRAVES:

It’s telling how many “truth and reconciliation” shouters are racists who hate the truth.

ZERO BODIES have been discovered at the former Kamloops residential school.

That’s good news! And attacking a Black and Indigenous reporter doesn’t change that. pic.twitter.com/4WfjBVMnr3

— Drea Humphrey (@DreaHumphrey) September 2, 2026

Rebel News and I are taking those threats seriously, so additional security precautions are being put in place as I prepare to report from tonight's gathering.

Whatever someone's opinion of the late Charlie Kirk is, my journalism or the ongoing Kamloops controversy, Canadians have the right to disagree and to mourn peacefully.

A 13-year-old boy should not be bullied out of peacefully commemorating someone who inspired him because activists disagree with that person's beliefs or because they dislike the journalist who happens to be covering it.

If you value independent journalists being able to report safely from contentious public events, please consider helping Rebel News keep our journalists safe at JournalistDefenceFund.com.