Juno News - Free speech event disrupted by Indigenous-aligned activists

00:00:00.000 A free speech event at Thompson Rivers University featuring academic Frances Widowson was disrupted

00:00:11.460 by protesters. Students resorted to shouting, obscenities, drumming and foot stomping to drown

00:00:18.780 out the speakers. Amid soaring grocery prices and rising food insecurity, CBC News is promoting

00:00:25.220 grocery stores that offer, quote, big savings on food that's expired or near its expiry date.

00:00:31.640 The Canadian government's controversial new directive to train public servants in firearms

00:00:37.400 and drone operation has drawn backlash over its, quote, ridiculous implications. Hello Canada,

00:00:45.260 it's Friday, November 14th, and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia. And I'm

00:00:51.540 Melanie Bennett. We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top

00:00:57.040 stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.

00:01:05.500 True North reporter Alex Zoltan was on the ground in Kamloops, British Columbia as chaos

00:01:11.300 unfolded at Thompson Rivers University. Academic and free speech advocate Frances Widowson,

00:01:18.780 known for questioning the 215 unmarked graves narrative, showed up to speak alongside one BC

00:01:25.620 leader Dallas Brody and former teacher Jim McMurtry. What began as a peaceful free speech event quickly

00:01:32.720 spiraled into verbal assaults, drumming and foot stomping as angry protesters hurled obscenities,

00:01:39.380 saying, quote, you effing white man to drown out discussions.

00:01:44.280 University officials attempted to shut the event down, citing, quote, policy violations.

00:02:00.940 Attendees, however, called for evidence and transparency surrounding the Kamloops residential

00:02:06.620 school claims, which has received $12 million in taxpayer funding, despite no excavations ever being

00:02:14.320 done. The event, promoted with a poster asking, quote, where are the 215 bodies, was denounced by the

00:02:22.260 University administration.

00:02:23.820 People who are just asking for evidence to have to provide it. You're making the claim, do you believe

00:02:30.140 that the remains of 215 children have been found? Yeah. Okay, so what evidence, what evidence do you have

00:02:35.740 for that? I believe children, can you let her, can you just let her talk instead? Please don't enter.

00:02:40.440 The 215 and all lois that were found in the ground. No, that's not what it was. This is what it was.

00:02:44.740 It was 215 child remains in a mass unmarked grave. Okay, so don't lie. They did not say four and a half

00:02:52.960 years ago anomalies. They said 215 child remains were found in a mass unmarked grave in Kamloops.

00:03:00.760 This university continues to perpetuate that lie. Thompson Rivers University president, Dr.

00:03:08.140 Irene, publicly stated that the event was not sanctioned, saying that the individuals were

00:03:13.860 instructed that they didn't have permission to hold the event. Widowson, a key figure questioning

00:03:19.800 the Kamloops mass graves narrative, and one of the authors featured in the book Grave Error,

00:03:25.860 has faced mounting opposition during her recent events. An event at the University of Winnipeg in

00:03:32.620 September erupted in chaos, where protesters allegedly assaulted members of her team,

00:03:38.400 leading to one man being punched and a woman being spat on. The Kamloops event continues

00:03:44.900 Widowson's tour across Canadian universities, a tour often met with protests and campus cancellations,

00:03:52.220 as she and her colleagues insist their conversations are necessary for free expression and academic freedom.

00:04:00.180 So Melanie, I watched some of this live coverage coming out from Alex, and it was quite hectic,

00:04:06.560 but I'm honestly not surprised since this is in Kamloops, where the original claim about the mass

00:04:14.060 graves comes from. But Melanie, you covered Widowson's event in Winnipeg and the ensuing backlash from

00:04:21.200 that. Did you see any parallels between that instance and what happened in Kamloops this week?

00:04:27.700 I think those are pretty hard to miss. What Alex captured in Kamloops follows pretty closely what I saw in

00:04:33.040 Manitoba. Universities are supposed to be places where we can challenge ideas, but instead we keep seeing

00:04:39.680 efforts to shut down honest discussion about these mass graves claims. Like in Manitoba, Frances Widowson has made

00:04:45.820 quite the effort to improve the level of discourse on campus. She brought philosopher Peter Boghossian's street

00:04:52.300 epistemology exercise to two Manitoba universities. The idea is simple. You basically lay out mats on the floor from strongly agree to

00:05:02.040 strongly disagree, and people essentially move along the line to respond to a claim. So it's meant to lower

00:05:09.640 the temperature because at the time you're focused on the question rather than each other. At the University

00:05:16.820 of Winnipeg, she didn't even have time to set those up. Almost immediately, the drum started, people crowded

00:05:23.860 in, and it essentially devolved into a pitchfork mob pretty quickly. They shouted insults and punched the

00:05:29.860 camera man like you said. He was just there to document. They spat on a supporter and eventually dumped water on the gear.

00:05:37.460 Frances later called it a, quote, breakdown of civilization. And that's exactly how it feels watching it back.

00:05:44.900 Kamloops felt like it had the same atmosphere. So drumming, chanting, insults, all of it designed to create so much chaos

00:05:52.820 that no one can really hear anything. No one's saying that people can't protest, but it does feel like

00:05:58.820 scenes like this cross a line. The problem is when one man's protest becomes a veto on the rights of

00:06:04.740 everybody else, you also see these juvenile tactics from institutions themselves. So back in Winnipeg, a professor

00:06:12.340 emailed students calling Frances a, quote, residential school denier and warning them to essentially stay away.

00:06:19.140 And in Kamloops, the university raced to say the event wasn't approved, but you don't hear the same urgency

00:06:26.180 about protecting open debate. And I keep coming back to this. Why do so many people seem desperate for the

00:06:34.980 worst possible story to be true? If there's no evidence of mass ritual murder by the Catholic Church,

00:06:42.180 that should be good news in my mind. Surely that would make reconciliation easier, not harder.

00:06:49.140 With soaring grocery prices pushing more Canadians into food insecurity, the state broadcaster,

00:06:57.620 CBC News, is now actively promoting grocery stores that offer, quote,

00:07:02.500 big savings by selling expired or near expired food. The segment was met with considerable backlash

00:07:10.020 for normalizing the problem. Kind of grocery store in Quebec is promising big savings at a time when food

00:07:15.140 prices keep rising. The low cost chain sells discounted items sometimes past their best before date.

00:07:21.300 As the CBC's Gabriel Guindy found out, shoppers say the deals are hard to beat.

00:07:26.340 I'm at a type of grocery store that's gaining a lot of momentum.

00:07:29.780 It sells discounted items and people shopping here say they're saving a lot of money.

00:07:34.660 I spent 52 days and if I would have it everywhere else, probably 150 dollars.

00:07:44.100 The food is sourced through distributors and manufacturers. So products that are mislabeled

00:07:48.660 or can be sold in regular grocery stores end up here, like this beef that was supposed to go to a

00:07:54.340 restaurant. It's sold at a discount making prices more affordable. Another reason for why prices are so

00:08:00.660 cheap is because they sell items that are near or past their best before date.

00:08:05.300 The Quebec retailer gained momentum as more Canadian families struggle financially.

00:08:10.500 The outlet noted their reduced items were safe to eat as, quote, best before labels indicate quality,

00:08:17.060 not safety. A staggering one in four Canadian households now struggle with food insecurity.

00:08:23.780 The problem is becoming more pervasive with one quarter of households now struggling to afford food.

00:08:30.500 This includes going entire days without food or worrying about running out of supplies at home.

00:08:35.860 According to a recent report from Food Banks Canada, there's been a 40% increase in poverty over

00:08:42.260 the last two years. The charity released its 2025 poverty report card, giving Canada an overall

00:08:48.900 failing grade of D. The grade reflects the federal government's poverty reduction efforts.

00:08:54.100 So, Cosmin, what food categories have been the hardest hit by inflation

00:08:59.140 based on the data from Statistics Canada?

00:09:01.460 Yeah, Melanie, I think everybody listening has been hitting the store lately and is starting to notice

00:09:08.020 things are getting prohibitively expensive out there. And it means a lot of Canadians are forced to make

00:09:15.060 sacrifices at the grocery aisle. But when it comes to specifics, according to the latest data from

00:09:21.220 Statistics Canada, the consumer price index says for September that some food categories have been

00:09:28.580 absolutely slammed by inflation. We're talking about like 40 to 50% year over year increases.

00:09:35.940 Now, leading the pack among those was coffee. So, your morning cup of roasted or ground coffee,

00:09:43.540 which I admit I really rely on to kickstart my day. That has shot up a staggering 41% year over year.

00:09:51.780 So, if you've been wondering why bags of coffee can cost up to $20 these days compared to what it used to,

00:10:01.140 there's your answer. As for meat products, it's not faring much better. So, fresh or frozen ground

00:10:08.900 beef jumped by 17.4%. Beef in general has been up by about 14%. Now, those who are vegetarians aren't

00:10:19.460 left out of this absolute slaughter when it comes to prices. Nuts and seeds, which you might think are

00:10:27.620 a budget option, also saw big price hikes at 15.7%. Going beyond proteins, you see fruit juices up 10.5%,

00:10:39.380 chocolate, confectionery up over 10%. It really extends across almost every category, both essential ones

00:10:50.180 and what you might call luxury categories. Some other interesting things, vegetables are up as well,

00:10:56.420 1.9%. Cucumbers shot up 24.7% in a single month. Sugar, meanwhile, other sort of pantry staples also

00:11:09.620 climbed 9.2%. So, yeah, whether it's coffee, a steak, or just having a snack, I think Canadians are really

00:11:18.740 feeling the pinch across the board. And yet, you have CBC, instead of focusing on how we can tackle

00:11:27.460 inflation, maybe through adjusting government spending, making cuts, and re-gearing the economy,

00:11:34.900 they're promoting Canadians to purchase expired or near-expired food as a way to cope.

00:11:43.140 Perhaps normalizing expired food as a solution isn't the best option. I mean, this is a real problem,

00:11:52.180 and Canadians deserve honest coverage, but also accountability for the government and some of

00:11:59.300 these spending decisions, which have led to our current economic turmoil.

00:12:04.340 The Department of National Defence's controversial new directive to train public servants in firearms

00:12:14.660 and operating drones has sparked considerable backlash, with critics slamming it as, quote,

00:12:21.460 ridiculous. The directive encourages public servants to join the Canadian Armed Forces,

00:12:27.860 or the CAF, Supplementary Reserve, to increase the size of the army to 300,000 members. Toronto Sun

00:12:36.980 journalist Brian Passifume compiled several public servants' reactions to the news, with several

00:12:43.620 expressing discontent with the plan. Meanwhile, Chief of the Defence Staff General Jenny

00:12:50.340 Kerrigan and Defence Deputy Minister Stephanie Beck signed off on the mobilization plan in May. The plan

00:12:58.340 would train federal and provincial employees in a one-week crash course to handle firearms, drive trucks,

00:13:05.620 and fly drones. First reported by the Ottawa Citizen, the supplementary recruiting push will prioritize

00:13:12.500 volunteer public servants at the federal and provincial territorial level, with less restrictive

00:13:19.540 entry standards. The plan states, quote, the entry criteria for the supplementary or other reserve

00:13:28.020 should be less restrictive than the reserve force for age limits as well as physical and fitness

00:13:33.140 requirements. The supplementary reserve is made up of inactive or retired CAF members who are willing to

00:13:40.260 return to duty if necessary. Currently has 4,384 personnel, but would be boosted to 300,000 in the event of an

00:13:49.940 emergency, according to the directive from Beck and Kerrigan. Once initiated, public servants would be

00:13:57.060 required to do the one week of training annually. They would not be issued uniforms, and the time would not count

00:14:03.700 towards their pension, but medical coverage would be provided for their annual military service.

00:14:10.660 So Melanie, there's been a lot of talk about a recruitment crisis with the Canadian Armed Forces. Where does the

00:14:18.180 Canadian military currently stand in terms of recruitment? And is training public servants once a year for a week really the best solution to address this?

00:14:29.780 Honestly, the plan feels like Ottawa trying to paper over a crisis. Like you said, Kazmin, the public service

00:14:37.380 reservists would get a one week crash course in guns and trucks and drones, and then an additional week of training each year.

00:14:46.580 All while the military itself feels like it's under stress. According to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada,

00:14:53.220 the CAF planned to recruit nearly 20,000 new people between April 22 and March 25, but they only managed

00:15:02.020 to recruit about 15,000. Public servants already carry a heavy cost for taxpayers. Things like generous

00:15:09.140 benefits, remote work controversies, bloated overhead. Having them shift into military roles without proper

00:15:17.220 training uniforms or pension raises both logistical and ethical issues. The military's own audit shows that the recruitment

00:15:27.220 process is leaking talent, training capacity is insufficient, and governance is weak. If they can't train and deploy regular recruits,

00:15:35.700 how do they expect to absorb thousands of semi-trained volunteers? If the goal is a strong and resilient national defense,

00:15:42.980 then proper investments and training should really come first. But it feels like the goal here is

00:15:48.980 optics, you know, the kind of thing that says we're doing something. And Canadians can really see that for

00:15:54.980 what it is. And given the chaos of recent public service debates, I mean, we're talking the, like I said,

00:16:01.780 the remote work battles, right? The overspending, the low productivity. This directive also risks further eroding the

00:16:07.780 public faith in our military. Now, I, for one, do not want to find out what happens when you ask people

00:16:14.260 who don't even want to go into the office to sign up for military duties.

00:16:20.740 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday

00:16:26.420 by subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it, hit us with a

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Juno News - November 14, 2025

Free speech event disrupted by Indigenous-aligned activists

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