As previously reported on by The Cascade, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, a group of Residential School denialists gathered outside UFV’s Student Union Building. I was shocked to hear some students and staff not only felt harassed and intimidated by the people invading our campus, but were reportedly shoved, shouted at, and subjected to homophobic, transphobic, and racist abuse. The group also filmed students and posted their faces to social media, and a library staffer reported feeling anxious and tense while the crowd later chanted outside Building G. I could only wonder: what did UFV do to help everyone feel safe at a time like this?
As I eventually learned, despite the protestor’s actions, UFV’s security stood by and did nothing. The day after, UFV President James Mandigo stated in an email that the group had “engaged in unsanctioned activity that was not affiliated with UFV and did not follow our event planning or safety processes.” Given that the event was unsanctioned by UFV, why was it allowed to continue? This strikes me as a serious failure by UFV to ensure student safety on campus. This crowd should have been told to leave when students began to feel unsafe.
UFV’s response seems inadequate to me when compared to other universities who faced similar demonstrations. Widdowson held similar rallies alongside OneBC at the University of Victoria on Dec. 2, 2025 and at the University of British Columbia (UBC) on Jan. 22. These events included the same Residential School denialist rhetoric that was observed at UFV. In both cases, OneBC and Widdowson were on campus without permission and were eventually removed by police. Decisive action by these universities and their student bodies prevented OneBC from targeting students, and our campus community should have followed in similar steps.
This isn’t just an administrative failure. This also reflects a lack of action taken by UFV students to demand that the denialists be removed from campus. According to an article from CBC, it was the UBC student body mobilizing that ultimately led to the group’s removal from their campus.
“‘When it became clear that there were potential safety risks, Campus Security, with the support of the RCMP, directed the visitors to leave the campus for their own safety,’ said UBC in a statement.”
Despite the failure to remove the protestors from campus that day, I have seen signs that UFV might learn from its mistake. The protestors attempted to return to our campus the evening following their initial rally, but were cut short when UFV security asked them to leave. I think this action is a step in the right direction, and should be upheld going forward. If UFV wishes to “work toward peace and reconciliation” as stated by President Mandigo in his email, they need to show the Residential School denialists that they are not welcome at our university.
