Unauthorized OneBC event planned at Thompson Rivers University

Thompson Rivers University hasn’t cleared the event, but that hasn’t stopped a controversial MLA and an author planning an event there promising a “reckoning” on Indian Residential Schools.

According to social media posts, OneBC leader Dallas Brodie and author Frances Widdowson, both known for outspoken skepticism over suspected graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, will be on university grounds on Wednesday afternoon.

The university did not respond to an inquiry from iNFOnews.ca, but Kelowna activist Wilbur Turner said the school is keeping a close eye on the event. He reached out to the school to find out whether the school is allowing the event to go ahead.

“They said they’re very much aware of the unsanctioned event, and they said their teams are working to ensure the campus remains open, safe and calm,” he said.

Brodie is a former BC Conservative MLA who was ousted from the party after mocking testimony from residential school survivors. She’s slated to be joined by Widdowson, who is a former Mount Royal University professor who authored the book “Grave Error,” which casts doubt on graves at the institutions Indigenous children were forced into.

Widdowson confronted Thompson Rivers University staff earlier this year as she attempted to film on the campus and question people about the suspected graves. She was also met with protesters at the University of Manitoba in September.

“I used to call Thompson Rivers University the worst university in Canada, but that was before Winnipeg,” she said in a recent video discussing the upcoming event.

A harsh critic of the notion there are unmarked graves at the institutions and frequently criticized as an Indian residential school “denialist,” she said in the video the time for sensitivity over the system and suspected graves “has long passed.”

According to Brodie and Widdowson, the event will take place at Thompson Rivers University campus at 1 p.m., Nov. 12.