WARNING: This story contains details of experiences in residential schools.
The BC conservative party has eliminated Mla Dallas Brodie from its Caucus.
The leader John Rustad said it was the result of Brodie’s recent appearance in a podcast where, she said, she “uses a mocking and childish voice to belittle the testimony of the former students of residential schools, saying things like” my grandmother’s truth “and” my truth, her truth “in a voice” that cries “of a child.”
“The privilege and the platform of being a conservative MLA come with an expectation and responsibility of doing the right thing: to make fun of the alumni of residential schools that give testimony, including the testimony about child sexual abuse by the pedophiles, is beyond the pale,” Rustad said in a written statement.
He also said that Brodie, on Thursday, had challenged the conservative party of BC Caucus to fire her, even asking the conservatives to vote to eliminate her, and made the decision to leave the Conservative Party of BC Caucus Room. “
Dallas Brodie was withdrawn from BC conservative caucus after he appeared in a video podcast and commented on the comments, the party leader, John Rustad, characterized as “mocking” the testimony of the survivors of the residential school who suffered abuses.
Rustad said that the decision to eliminate Brodie was not based on previous statements that surround the number of bodies found at the site of the Indian residential school Kamloop, but about “an elected MLA that uses its position of authority to simulate the testimony of abuse survivors, including child sexual abuse.”
“As a result of their decision to mock publicly and belittle the testimony of former students of residential schools, even imitating people who told abuse stories, including child sexual abuse, MLA Brodie is not welcome to our BC Caucus conservative party.”
Weeks of tension
Brodie’s public statement on residential schools has been a source of tension in the party for several weeks.
In February, he made a position on X focused on the site of the Indian residential school Kamloop.
“The number of children confirmed children in the old site of the residential school of India Kamloop is zero. Zero. Nobody should be afraid of truth. Not lawyers, their governing bodies or any other person,” he said in the position.
In 2021, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the reconciliation naderrally designated by the Federal Government and the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation said that it had documented the death of more than 4,100 children while attending these schools, mostly due to malnutrition or disease. That work had come as part of the truth report and reconciliation in residential schools, which involved collecting six years of testimony received from more than 6,000 attendees throughout the country.
He also heard the testimony that many of the children who attended schools were physically, sexually or psychologically abused, ultimately characterizing the system as a “cultural genocide.”
In May 2021, the TK’emlúps Te Secwépemc First Nation said that the penetrating radar of the soil provided “confirmation of the remains of 215 children” on the school site, but reviewed its language in July 2021 to describe the finding as “potential burial sites.” The first nation changed the writing last year to “anomalies.”
Brodie said at that time that he did not denied the impact of residential schools, but wanted to be precise about the findings on the Kamloop site.
“The stand I am taking is based on the need for truth. And I don’t think defending the truth takes anything from the severity of what happened in residential schools,” he told the journalists of the legislature in February. “I am a lawyer. I believe in evidence, truth and search for truth, and I think that lawyers should be allowed to ask questions.”
He received a rejection for his position from a party member and the leader of the party chamber, A’aliya Warbus, member of the Nation Sto: lo.
“Find out, get the latest facts, investigations and talk to the survivors. Question the stories of the people who lived and survived these atrocities is nothing more than harmful and retreats to us in reconciliation,” Warbus published.
Conservative leader John Rustad said at that time that he had asked Brodie to withdraw the position, but she refused.
He also said on more than one occasion that there was space at the party for disagreement.
However, things reached a critical point after Brodie’s appearance in a YouTube video discussion with Frances Widdowson, a former professor at the University of Mount Royal who was criticized for saying that there were educational benefits for the Canada residential school system.
Speaking in the video, Brodie told Widdowson that “the most vociferous hatred” he received in response to his publication on social networks has been his own party.
“There is a person in our group who is indigenous, and she was super angry, she went to the city and joined the NDP to call me. We have actually brought some people who, I will only say this, belong to the NDP.”
He also made the statements to references by Rustad in his reasoning to eliminate it from the party.
“I know, if we are not true, not his truth, his truth, oh, my grandmother’s truth,” he said before lifting his voice, to tell “my truth and your truth, oh my truth.”
Brodie said in the video that had the support of about 20 mla that were “100 percent of her.”
When asked if he worried that other conservatives could leave the party to align with Brodie, Rustad acknowledged that it was a possibility.
“Everything is possible, including who knows, maybe other people will enter and join the conservative party,” he told CBC News.
Rustad, himself, was eliminated from the Liberal Caucus of BC in 2022 after sharing a publication on social networks that showed doubts about the science of climate change. He later sat as an independent before taking charge of the leadership of the BC Conservative Party in 2023.
‘I talked the truth because it matters’: Brodie
Brodie did not respond to CBC News calls on Friday, but in a series of publications about X, the rookie MLA of Vancouver -quhena said “I would never go back.”
He defended his past comments, repeating his statement that “the number of bodies discovered in Kamloop is zero” and calling for reconciliation a “multimillionaire industry” promoted by “powerful created interests.”
I talked the truth because it matters. I will never go back.
It is an indisputable fact that the number of bodies discovered in Kamloop is zero.
The truth is a threat to the powerful interests created in the multimillion -dollar reconciliation industry. 1/
“Politicians like David Eby and John Rustad are willing to sell the wealth and power of British Columbia, transferring it from the public to a racial minority of elite, enriching lawyers, consultants and opportunistic bosses along the way,” he published.
“We will stop them. We will fight for a British columbia that serves us all. And we will speak a true word at the same time.”
‘Words matter, our truth is important’: Metis President
The leaders of the first nations say that Brodie’s statements are equivalent to residential school denialism.
Walter Mineault, the Mécis nation of the president of BC, had asked Rustad to throw Brodie out of Caucus.
“Finally he made the right decision,” said Mineult.
He said it is important to recognize that residential school experiences that are discussed “were not objective truths” for Metis people, but their experiences lived.
Mineult’s grandparents attended residential schools, and their parents attended the daytime school.
“Words matter, our truth is important, and we will always face the people who choose to use their position of authority to cause improper damage,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Wade Grant, who lives in the driving of Dallas Brodie and works for the first Musqueam nation, said his comments were angry.
“We know that the children died there, we know that the children were abused there, why do we have to go and dig tombs to try it?” He told CBC News.
A national 24-hour Indian Residential School Crisis line is available in 1-866-925-4419 for emotional services and crisis reference for survivors and those affected.
Mental health advice and crisis support are also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the Hope for Wellness Direct Line at 1-855-242-3310 or By online chat.
