Frances Widdowson, a Mount Royal University professor and author of Dead Wrong, was arrested at the University of Victoria on Tuesday after being told that she, OneBC interim party leader Dallas Brodie, and former schoolteacher Jim McMurtry were not welcome on the university’s campus.
Widdowson, Brodie, McMurtry and others planned to attend the campus for a peaceful discussion with students, faculty, media and the public about the widely disseminated — and disputed — 2018 claim that the remains of 215 children were discovered in unmarked graves at the Kamloops Residential School.
The group held a similar free-speech event at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops just weeks earlier, which ended in largely productive and civil discourse.
A livestream posted on X by Kris Eriksen showed the group being trespassed from the campus by what appeared to be members of the Saanich Police Department.
Shortly afterward, multiple posts and images showed Widdowson being directed into a police vehicle.
A letter sent to the group ahead of the event, signed by Jess MacLean, who identifies herself as the Director of Campus Security, noted that Widdowson, Brodie and McMurtry were not welcome on the campus.
The letter further explains that the trio are unwelcome because they had not gone through “the booking process,” and, as such, there was not enough time to “ensure adequate safety planning is in place.”
That same day, UVic acting president Robina Thomas also made a statement expressing concern over the trio’s planned attendance.
“I know events like this are impactful and members of our community are experiencing harm as a result,” said Thomas in her statement on the event.
Wyatt Claypool, a OneBC staffer who attended the campus during Widdowson’s arrest, told True North multiple assaults occurred and that one individual suffered damage to their property during the events that transpired.
He added Widdowson was held at the Saanich police station, but she has since been released.