ROTHENBURGER – OneBC ‘town hall’ was lively but it was nothing to fear

(Images: Mel Rothenburger; click on images to enlarge)

IT WAS LIVELY but well-behaved, at least for the most part.

That, I think, sums up last night’s (June 7, 2026) much ballyhooed ‘town hall’ featuring MLA Dallas Brodie of OneBC. Actually, there was no hall, since the City cancelled a rental permit for the Kia Lounge after demanding more than $7,000 to provide security.

Instead, Brodie spoke in front of a hundred people at a parking lot on Victoria Street West not far from City Hall. Not nearly as many as had registered but three times the number of anti-Brodie protesters across the street.

The new location wasn’t revealed until Saturday night, when those who had registered received an email.

Four RCMP members and at least two or three Community Service Officers were there, along with their parked vehicles, lights flashing, to ensure order.

At no time was there a hint of anything unsafe, which the City had said was the concern that prompted the big security bill.

After some introductory remarks by party chief of staff Wyatt Claypool, who ridiculed the “clowns” at City Hall for demanding the extra payment, and gleefully pointed out that the event didn’t pay a dime for rental or security at the parking lot, Brodie got right down to business.

She said “lies” about unmarked graves had created an impression that Canada is “heartless” and caused “a sense of shame about our country.”

Brodie said the federal government should demand that excavations be done to answer the question of whether unmarked graves exist at residential schools. She denied accusations of racism and denialism: “We’re being told we’re not entitled to the proof…. We can’t be the advocates for errors or lies.”

MLAs Peter Milobar and Ward Stamer came in for criticism for helping “promote the hoax.”

The demographic of those who attended was diverse, from teens to seniors and an apparent range of ethnicities, including indigenous. At least a couple of the latter were there to support Brodie, one telling her “we love you and we love OneBC” and another telling her she’s doing the right thing.

A third, however, wasn’t impressed, yelling during the Question and Answer session, “This is all Indian land, every single fucking part of it,” at which point a couple of OneBC guys tried to wrest the microphone from her.

Brodie told them to let her speak but, instead, the woman turned on her heels, raised her hand in a one-fingered salute, and marched off.

“Oh, that’s nice,” said Brodie, adding that such people “are destructive. They are not builders.”

Meanwhile, the 35 placard wavers and flag bearers across the street seemed to be enjoying themselves, drumming and heckling and chanting, “Hey, ho, OneBC has got to go!” “Dallas you suck!” and “Why, why Dallas why do you deny it’s genocide?”

(Video: Mel Rothenburger)

They waved signs with slogans such as “Honor the 215,” “All children deserve love and respect” and “Every child matters.”

It wasn’t all so polite. Many of the motorists passing by hit their horns in response to a placard that read, “Honk if you hate racists.” One of the protesters shouted “fucking liar” at Brodie. At one point the police and a CSO quickly strode across Victoria Street West to the protesters. I didn’t catch the start of it but it appeared to be a response to a few of them straying off the sidewalk onto the asphalt. They obeyed the officers and nothing came of it.

The noise from the protesters was supplemented by the silent threat of rain and the rumbling of trains passing by behind Brodie but none of it interrupted the flow of the event.

One of the interested attendees was Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson, who received a round of applause when he introduced himself and briefly took the mike during the Q&A with some comments about street disorder.

(I asked him why he was there and his response was, “This is a democracy and I’m the mayor and I’m here to listen,” adding that those who committed crimes at residential schools need to be held accountable.)

The Q&A, which went on for more than an hour, ranged from land acknowledgements in schools (Brodie called them “corrosive”), ostrich farming, DRIPA and UNDRIP, data centres, and federal payments to First Nations in connection with unmarked-graves claims.

To the latter, she said the Kamloops band should repay the millions it has received, and Kúkwpi7 Rosanne Casimir “needs to step down.” (Casimir has previously demanded that Brodie resign.)

(Video: Mel Rothenburger)

Attempts at the federal level to make denialism a crime also came up, to which Brodie responded, “I’m not gonna stop. If I have to go to jail, I’ll go to jail.” On a similar note, she told the crowd to applause, “We need to have a marketplace of ideas in this country,” not a place where people are branded with insulting labels for speaking out.

When it wrapped up an hour and 40 minutes after it began, Brodie stayed to answer some questions one-to-one, and the merch table did a brisk business selling OneBC T-shirts and ball caps and signing up volunteers.

Was this the sort of gathering that promoted a reconciliation of ideas and interests? Well, no, the “town hall” on one side of the street and the counter protest on the other was anything but a dialogue. But, on the other hand, it wasn’t threatening and there were certainly no hints of violence or physical confrontation. It was, all in all, a safe venue and nobody got wildly out of line.

In other words, there was nothing to fear from it. When the talking (and shouting from the other side of the road) came to a close, everyone simply went home.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.