A planned peaceful counter protest unfurled into a day of support as hundreds of students, allies and Indigenous community members gathered in front of McPherson Library at the University of Victoria on Tuesday (Dec. 2) afternoon.
The rally, with Elders taking the stage to speak, came as a result of a promised appearance by Dallas Brodie, MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena and interim leader of the fledgling political party One BC. Brodie’s outspoken views on the legacy of Canadian residential schools got her booted from the B.C. Conservative caucus earlier this year.
Along with Brodie was Canadian political scientist Frances Widdowson, who was an associate professor at Mount Royal University. Widdowson, like Brodie, is known for their views questioning the existence of unmarked graves on the grounds of a former residential school.
Aware of the controversial conversation coming to the Saanich campus, UVic sent out a notice Dec. 1 with resources for those impacted.
“We honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools, their families and communities,” wrote UVic’s acting president Robina Thomas. “As articulated in our Indigenous Plan, we honour the self-determining rights of Indigenous People and recognize that doing otherwise perpetuates harm.”
In her statement, Thomas said Bordie, Widdowson and the other organizers did not notify the university of their presence or submit a request to host an event on campus. As a result, they were not permitted to hold it.
“This event is not sanctioned by our university and is not authorized to take place on our campus,” Thomas added.
The next day, with Oak Bay and Saanich police officers standing by, hundreds of people gathered instead to talk about the importance of acknowledging the existence of residential schools.
A statement from Saanich Police, who were on scene, said UVic requested their support for its security service.
During the event, UVic staff told those gathered in support of One BC that they were “trespassing” and asked them to leave. The “majority” complied and were escorted off the property. However, “Saanich officers arrested one individual under the Trespass Act, and that person has since been released.”
Black Press Media has reached out to Brodie and Widdowson for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
A few other escalations throughout UVic’s campus ground erupted between One BC supporters and Indigenous allies.
During the counter-protest, Eddy Charlie, co-founder of Orange Shirt Day in Victoria, spoke of the impact of residential schools on First Nations members across the province and beyond.
He is a survivor of the Kuper Island Residential School. Sent there when he was four, Charlie said he endured abuse, sexual violence and starvation at the hands of priests and nuns.
“When you’re only four-and-a-half years old, and you experience things like that, it never ever leaves your head, your heart, and your spirit,” he said. “And there are 150,000 children who experienced this.”
For years, he said, the abuse continued.
Today, as an advocate for survivors, Charlie uses his voice for those who can’t be heard.
When he heard Brodie’s claim denying evidence of unmarked graves at former residential school sites, he told the crowd his “heart broke and spirit shattered.”
“She has no right to speak out against what we experienced,” he said.
Yet, standing before hundreds of counter-protesters, Charlie said he remains hopeful about the progress that has been made.
“When I see you guys out here today, you lift my spirit up into a better place,” he said. “You give value to all the words that I have spoken for the past 10 years.”
Shortly after, professor of Indigenous studies Tracy Underwood told the crowd she honours the Every Child Matters movement daily, in part because of her father, who attended residential school from the age of seven through Grade 8 at Kamloops and Kuper Island. The impact on her family ranges from residential school in the 1800s to her own day school experience as a young person.
“Every generation was an attempt to sever who I am,” she said.
The event was organized by multidisciplinary artist and chair of UVic’s Indigenous art practices Carey Newman (Hayalthkin’geme).
In an interview with Black Press Meida, Newman said he mobilized as soon as he heard about Brodie and Widdowson’s planned visit to the campus, which began circulating on social media on Sunday, Dec. 30.
After getting permission from UVic to hold a gathering in front of the McPherson Library, Newman connected with his extensive network of friends and acquaintances to show their support for residential school survivors.
“Our intent here was not to engage in a confrontation with those who deny the history of residential schools,” he said. “It was an opportunity for us to come together to affirm the experiences of residential school survivors and to stand up for the truth that we know and that we live every day.”
Having witnessed the impact of residential schools through his father and the countless people he crossed paths with while working as an artist, he felt it was his “duty” to express his “love and support” to survivors.
Overwhelmed with the turnout, expecting only a few dozen people, Newman wasn’t expecting the hundreds of people who ended up at the event.
At a time when denialist narratives persist, Newman remains puzzled by the motivations behind the pushback to what he calls “resolved fact.” Regardless, the artist and advocates argued it is time to learn from the past and move proactively toward a brighter future.
“We need to focus on how we respond to what we’ve done, and acknowledging the truth doesn’t mean living in shame; it means acknowledging it so we know that we won’t do it again.
“Rather than focusing on the denial, I think we should focus on how we move forward together, and that’s what the spirit of reconciliation really is.”