Conservative Dallas Brodie, MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, said Monday (Feb. 24) that she is standing by social media posts in support of a lawyer.
Brodie, who is her party's attorney general critic, has been questioning the "apparent mistreatment" of James Heller after he had asked for the rewording of Law Society training material about residential schools.
Brodie said in her post defending Heller that she was 鈥渃ompelled to act鈥� as the attorney general critic to ensure lawyers are 鈥渇ree to insist upon facts鈥� in the legal system.
鈥淭he number of confirmed child burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site is zero,鈥� her post said. 鈥淐an we trust our legal system if lawyers are no longer free to insist upon the facts?鈥�
The Tk鈥檈ml煤ps te Secwepemc First Nation said in 2021 that ground penetrating radar provided 鈥渃onfirmation of the remains of 215 children鈥� at the school site but last year said the radar found 鈥渃onfirmation of 215 anomalies.鈥�
B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Christine Boyle responded on social media by calling Brodie鈥檚 comments 鈥渁bhorrent behaviour鈥� and says there is 鈥渘o place in B.C. for residential school denialism.鈥�
Brodie said the point of her tweet was not to deny the suffering caused by residential schools.
"Our hearts ache for all of those children," she said. She added that she was not trying to hurt anybody. She added that the history of the residential school system is well-documented through the Truth and Reconcilation Commission. "But there are two words in that -- truth and reconciliation -- and it's very important that we stick to the truth. So if down the road, there are physical remains discovered (at the Kamloops site), then there might be another discussion. But at this point, there hasn't been any."
Brodie also addressed Boyle's comments. "Once someone starts calling you names, that's a way of discussing the actual issue," Brodie said.
Conservative Party Leader John Rustad said Monday morning that he talked to Brodie about her posts.
鈥淲hen the tweets were first put up, I was concerned that they may be misinterpreted as opposed to being about the fact that there hasn鈥檛 been any graves at that particular site or any bodies at that particular site exhumed or found versus the whole issue of the residential school, so I was concerned about that and asked her to take it down because of that concern,鈥� Rustad said. 鈥淗owever, it doesn鈥檛 change the facts that there hasn鈥檛 been anything found at these sites, but it also doesn鈥檛 change the facts that of the tragedy that has been residential schools.鈥�
Brodie said she did not take the tweet down because taking it down would have made it look as if she would not stand behind what she wrote. She also rejected suggestions that her refusal to take the down tweet undermines Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad. "I think it is okay to stand on my own two feet and stand by what I wrote."
Brodie added that she was not intending to hurt anybody. "(Except) for if it is not true, then people need to know that this is not true." She added that Heller's reputation has been unfairly damaged over this issue.
Brodie said it was legitimate for Rustad to ask her to take down the tweet. "We definitely have different points of views in our caucus and I actually think John is quite supportive of that. (Some) of those things are awkward, for sure, but I also have always been a person that has really believed in truth. (Particularly) as a defence lawyer, we have to be able to ask questions, we have to be able to get to evidence and we have to get to the truth of things, not my truth or your truth, the truth."
Brodie鈥檚 posts shared a link to an article about Heller, who unsuccessfully pushed last year for the society鈥檚 training material to say there were 鈥減otentially鈥� burial sites at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., instead of using more definitive language.
Heller is now suing the society over what he calls 鈥渇alse and defamatory鈥� imputations of racism that he says the society republished.
Brodie said on social media that she鈥檒l reach out to B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma and the Law Society of British Columbia in the coming days about the situation facing lawyer James Heller.
The Law Society and the Tk鈥檈mlups te Secwepemc First Nation have not responded to requests for comment, while Heller declined to speak on the record.
Brodie had previously drawn criticism for comments made when she was running as a candidate in Vancouver-Quilchena in last fall鈥檚 B.C. election.
She said that when 鈥減eople say they want to be First Nations,鈥� that comes with the responsibility to take care of people in the Downtown Eastside.
Rustad also acknowledged the thousands of Indigenous children who were taken from their homes and the thousands who did not return home and died at the residential schools.
鈥淭ragically as part of this, they decided at the time not to send the deceased home for burial. They buried them on site, so just about every residential school across the country has a cemetery for children who passed 鈥� That鈥檚 just the facts.鈥�
Canada鈥檚 special interlocutor on unmarked graves and missing children said in a report last year that despite the 鈥渨ell-documented reality鈥� of residential school deaths, some Canadians have made a concerted effort to attack the truths of survivors, Indigenous families and communities.
The report by Kimberly Murray says the Tk鈥檈mlups te Secwepemc made an announcement 鈥渃onfirming that up to 215 potential unmarked burials鈥� took place at the Kamloops school site, resulting in global attention for the issue.
More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996.
The Canadian Press
鈥� With files from Black Press Media
