Dallas Brodie fired from B.C. Conservatives’ caucus after mocking Residential School Survivors

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad has expelled Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie from caucus over a video where she mocked Residential School Survivors and the party’s house leader.

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Brodie has caused controversy over the last few days over her insistence that child deaths at residential schools are not substantiated.

She posted a video using a teasing, childlike voice to disparage testimony from former residential school students.

“As a result of her decision to publicly mock and belittle testimony from former residential school students, including by mimicking individuals recounting stories of abuses — including child sex abuse, MLA Brodie is not welcome to return to our Conservative Party of BC Caucus,” Rustad stated Friday.

“I believe strongly in free speech — however, using your stature and platform as an MLA to mock testimony from victims alleging abuse, including child sex abuse, is where I draw the line.”

He says Brodie challenged the caucus to fire her and then walked out of a meeting Thursday. Rather than scuttle the ship, the party accepted her challenge.

Calls for Brodie’s removal came during the 2024 election campaign period when past comments about Indigenous people surfaced, and she spent an all-candidates debate defending herself in a way that drew more criticism.

Rustad tells 1130 NewsRadio he spoke to Brodie at the time and was “confident she was moving in the right direction,” but that changed.

“4,000 children across Canada died in residential schools, children that were taken from their families, and unfortunately, far too many did not come home… To belittle people who have suffered through residential schools, particularly in the Kamloops school, and the case of an individual who was charged with multiple sex offences, I find that completely unacceptable.”

Wade Grant, a member of the Musqueam First Nation says Brodie’s removal is too little too late. He says her riding covers Musqueam Nation lands, and conversations are underway about calling for her resignation as MLA outright.

“There have been many people that I’ve talked to that do not want her sitting as our MLA, do not want her representing us in Victoria. So there will be conversations, I’m sure, with people in Musqueam Nation about the future, knowing that she will continue to be an independent sitting member,” said Grant.

On Thursday, Brodie railed against members of her own party in a fight over residential schools, including a “super angry” Indigenous colleague she says “joined the NDP” to call her out.

Brodie’s apparent reference to B.C. Conservative house leader A’aliya Warbus comes after Brodie said in a social media post last month that “zero” child burials had been confirmed at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Brodie said in a video posted on social media that the “most vociferous hatred” she received as a result came from her own party, and that some of her colleagues “belong in the NDP.”

Warbus, who was visibly upset when asked about the video outside the legislative chamber, said at the time that if her party can’t get on the same page on residential schools, then she doesn’t know why she’s sacrificing her time to be a political representative.

Grant says the mocking is “devastating.”

“These people that have survived the number of years that they were sitting in those schools, it took them so long to actually come out and share their stories — to share what had happened to them. It was like a wound being reopened, but they are taking the time to heal. And when you make childish gestures about their truth, it really does show that you are not a very likeable person, because these people have tried to share the most tremendous hurt they’ve ever had in their life, and you’re just dismissing it as something to laugh at.”

Other party members have sided with Dallas, but Rustad declined to comment on the idea that her departure had caused an internal rift among BC Conservatives.

In May of 2021, ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be more than 200 graves at the former residential school in Kamloops. Rustad repeatedly defended Brodie’s assertion that the underground anomalies are not yet proven to be graves.

“But the reality is that should never take away from what has happened at residential schools and the fact that children did die at residential schools, including at the Kamloops school,” said Rustad.

Grant says that focus itself is harmful.

“We don’t need to count graves to prove that it was an awful, awful place for kids to go,” said Grant.

“We don’t need to have to confirm bodies are lying there to know that kids died there. And so for people to keep saying, ‘Show me proof, show me proof,’ It really does fly in the face of the reconciliation that we’ve worked hard with the Residential School Survivors who have shared with us that they’ve seen children, and they watched their friends and family pass away in these schools.”

BC NDP Attorney General Niki Sharma says Brodie’s actions were “abhorrent,” and Rustad should have acted sooner.

“Although he tolerated Brodie’s behaviour for far too long, it is a relief to see John Rustad finally act. Standing up to Brodie and the BC Conservative MLAs who supported her was the right thing to do,” said Sharma in a statement.

She says Brodie’s comments have no place in any political party.

—With files from The Canadian Press