A conservative activist in Ontario has been banned from Guelph university after what she claims was an innocent conversation with some Middle Eastern women about the war in Iran. Sarah Dotsert posted a video online claiming the university banned her merely for being close to the conversation, not even engaging in it.
00:00:00.000A conservative activist in Ontario has been banned from Guelph University after what she
00:00:09.860claims was an innocent conversation with some Middle Eastern women about the war in Iran.
00:00:15.420Sarah Dotsert posted a video online claiming the university banned her merely for being
00:00:21.080close to the conversation, not even engaging in it. Sarah Dotsert is a member of Unify Action,
00:00:28.140of pro-family pro-freedom campus group she joins us now welcome sarah hi how are you i'm great thank
00:00:35.820you um maybe you could talk about what happened that led the university of guelph to send you a
00:00:42.780letter saying you were banned for life yeah yes it is it is really honestly the craziest experience
00:00:52.060ever. I wouldn't believe it unless it had happened to me. So the reason that I am banned,
00:00:59.100at least the reason that they're claiming that the trespass notice was even issued at all,
00:01:03.260was not connected to my work at Unify Action. So we went to the University of Guelph one evening,
00:01:10.460it was March 6th, and we go there just to attend a private religious function. So it's just like
00:01:19.460private evening. I wanted to attend outside. Visitors were allowed to attend this function.
00:01:23.960So I went, I had several members of my family with me. And so my father, he was supposed to
00:01:31.120drop us off. And then there were two of my siblings with me. And we arrive early. We're
00:01:37.760in our vehicle. We're eating our supper. It's 7 p.m. at night. And to our side, there is some
00:01:44.680Middle Eastern girls who like they're going back and forth from their vehicle. I'm not sure what0.99
00:01:49.220they were doing at the time. And we're in our vehicle. It's like 20 minutes. We're eating our
00:01:53.180supper and chatting. And then we're about to go in. So we get up, I leave the vehicle
00:01:57.520and I'm walking away and I'm waiting for my siblings to kind of catch up for me. So I'm going
00:02:01.920slow. And behind me, I hear my dad, the side door is open and the Middle Eastern girls are just1.00
00:02:09.040really close to us. So he kind of just leans, leans back. He's still in the driver's seat. He's0.99
00:02:14.580like not moved at all just leans back and says hey what do you guys think of the war in iran
00:02:19.960and i know that could be a very triggering question um but not that you if you don't know
00:02:27.100my dad you would think it was like a wild question to ask but my dad he he loves to talk to anyone he
00:02:32.560will he'll have a conversation with anyone about anything and i know like he's said repeatedly
00:02:38.260since this situation that he was simply trying to gauge their feeling and know what they thought
00:02:43.780about the war because they must have had some feeling about it. And so that was his purpose
00:02:49.480in asking the question. And they immediately, it was taken with hostility. So I stop when I hear
00:02:55.880him ask the question, because I'm still waiting for my siblings to get out of the car. And I sit
00:03:00.980there and I'm just standing there. I'm witnessing this. And so my siblings are standing there
00:03:05.680between the vehicle. They're getting out. And the conversation continues. It's about one minute.
00:03:12.360I don't think it really got too close to two minutes. So it wasn't a long conversation at all.
00:03:17.160And my dad just asked them what they think of like all the people that are being unjustly,
00:03:23.800having their lives ended in Iran and different things like that by the regime and just like
00:03:28.740their thoughts on it. And I believe America, the topic of America was touched and the topic of
00:03:34.060Trump, which is obviously a triggering subject. And that was all touched in that conversation.
00:03:39.620it was very brief. And then the conversation ends with the one girl who was standing by the
00:03:45.300driver's side saying, don't racially stereotype people to my father. So for this whole thing,
00:03:51.480my siblings and I are completely silent. And one of the claims that I understand afterwards that
00:03:56.640they have made is that they were being blocked from exiting their vehicle. Well, if you understand
00:04:04.200that my brother, he was getting out of the vehicle at the time and he was just standing
00:04:09.780there listening to the conversation. So of course he was standing beside the passenger side door
00:04:15.420and they claimed that he was deliberately blocking them in, which is obviously not true. He was
00:04:20.620getting out of the vehicle and he just stopped to listen to the conversation. So there's a lot of
00:04:25.120claims. And, like, I understand them. I understand them for feeling offended and, I guess,
00:04:34.240stereotyped. And I don't hold against them for reporting the conversation at all. I understand
00:04:39.860that they probably took it very, very, like, it was a very racially stereotyping sort of thing,
00:04:46.960that that's what they thought. They didn't understand my father or his reasons for even
00:04:51.720talking to them. He just wanted to know their feelings on it. So what happens is my siblings
00:04:58.020and I, the conversation ends and we walk away, we walk, we attend the function. And my dad drives
00:05:04.740off and he would be doing some errands and then coming back to pick us up. So that's kind of how
00:05:12.900like the whole thing that they're reporting. And we walk into the building and my siblings are with
00:05:18.980me and they actually walk in after us. These girls follow us in and they take a picture of me1.00
00:05:24.280without my consent. And then I see them reporting us to the front desk. It looks like they're like0.99
00:05:31.300obviously flustered and think that there's been some sort of abuse. I assume that's what they
00:05:38.200were saying. And they report us. And that's kind of the last I hear of it until I receive
00:05:43.380the letter in the mail saying that my father and I are banned. And in the whole situation,
00:05:49.140I did absolutely nothing. And I think they understand that I did nothing. And I didn't
00:05:54.240say anything. And I didn't see any cause to interfere in any way. It was simply a conversation
00:06:00.520that my father had. And I understand them for feeling offended. I do. I don't hold it against
00:06:08.200them. And my beef is not with them, actually. My beef was with the university for banning me and
00:06:15.400my father. My father is an alumni of the University of Guelph. So he attended there. And this is his
00:06:22.260university. This is where he spent four years of his life. He got a crop science degree there.
00:06:27.400And what he did with that degree, actually, he went to the war-torn country of Somalia
00:06:34.680and risked his life, nine months of his life, he was in a war zone, basically, feeding the
00:06:41.560impoverished people of Somalia because they had no food. So he spent his nine months of his life
00:06:47.940and the culmination of his degree in Somalia, helping these people and serving them. And now
00:06:54.480they're trying to make the claim that this man is Islamophobic and racist, which to me is outrageous.
00:07:00.680and for my part I have close family friends who are also of the Muslim community and I love these
00:07:06.600people so I I understand that they think that it was racist but I want them to understand that it
00:07:14.800wasn't and that we really we still care about these people we love them and I honestly I want
00:07:22.180the situation to be resolved so my beef is not with these girls at all my beef is with the
00:07:27.380university campus for banning us but not only that banning us without even hearing our side
00:07:34.220because if you just hear one side where there's obviously a misunderstanding then it just all
00:07:40.460sounds horrible um if you were to hear the one side you think that it would be like this horrible
00:07:44.280racist attack which it was not at all yeah so that's the story right i mean it speaks to the
00:07:52.380huge cultural divide between our country and say a country like iran which has no free speech in
00:07:58.140canada we do have free speech and we have a culture of being able to be open and free and
00:08:03.900asking somebody's opinion about something so that's what we take for granted and they don't
00:08:09.740have that over there the problem is they're over here and so maybe they're not used to that sort0.66
00:08:15.020of thing and you know people who come here from those types of countries that do not have free
00:08:20.220speech they need to understand that they're in a place that does have free speech and i'm with you
00:08:25.340on the university issue i mean they need to understand that canada has free speech and that
00:08:30.460that campus supposedly is a space safe space for free expression obviously it's not i mean
00:08:39.660as far as i'm concerned what did your father do that was so wrong except ask somebody an opinion
00:08:45.020about something and by the way as far as blocking a car and like that is the police involved in this
00:08:50.860at all i mean have they been asked to investigate this matter that's the wild thing i don't know
00:08:58.860that they have so i believe it was only campus security that got involved and they sent the
00:09:05.660notice of trespass to the guelph police um if charges had actually been laid and it had actually
00:09:14.540been like a violent crime, then we would have known something. The police would have actually
00:09:18.080done an investigation. At least that's my understanding of how our law and justice system
00:09:22.300works, is that they would have looked at both sides and actually weighed the data and the
00:09:26.140information. And I personally would love to know if there is footage, if there's like security
00:09:32.680footage from that parking lot, because this is a parking lot, a visitor parking lot at the
00:09:36.420University of Guelph. And if there is, then it would confirm our side of the story that there was
00:09:41.900no seeking them out there was no chasing them there was no premeditated assaults and there
00:09:50.020was no blocking their vehicle in yeah and I just think the whole story is incredible though and the
00:09:57.280fact that the university is like they have they have not responded to my repeated request to be
00:10:03.920like hey tell me what are the allegations against me what did I do specifically the only reason that
00:10:10.660i'm banned and my other two siblings aren't is because my name was listed on the license plate
00:10:15.620of our vehicle as a driver for insurance purposes and my siblings aren't listed on that because
00:10:20.820they're just too young i think you have a human rights case here frankly i mean if they want to
00:10:25.220have want to put this before a human rights tribunal you can i i think you have a case if
00:10:31.460you want to go in that direction obviously that's entirely up to you but the idea that somehow you
00:10:36.020You or your father would owe anybody an apology simply for asking somebody's opinion.
00:10:41.040I mean, if that's going to be an issue in this country, we have no free speech left.
00:10:44.500It's dead. It's over. Not only on campuses, but outside because of some of these laws that the liberal government are bringing in that are basically chilling, having a chilling effect on people's ability, long held.
00:11:02.400treasured ability to simply have open and honest engagement with others. It's absolutely ridiculous.0.79
00:11:12.880And the fact that they're even suggesting that it's hate speech, when I reached out to the0.83
00:11:19.200security office there, the response that I got back was that it was the tone and intent of the
00:11:25.060conversation that was unwelcome, not necessarily what was said. So it isn't even like specific
00:11:30.520words that they're pinpointing here it was the tone and intent and yet the letter still says
00:11:35.720that because of certain actions on march 6th that i'm banned um which honestly is ridiculous at this
00:11:43.080point yeah what's your next move well i want to have a conversation with these girls i want to
00:11:49.800understand where they're where they're coming from i want i want the breach to be healed i want them
00:11:54.360them to understand our side, because I wish that they were open to the conversation, because I
00:12:01.580would love to have that conversation. I want this wound to be healed, and I would love for the
00:12:06.140university, without any further need for action, I would love for the university to remove these
00:12:11.960trespass notices, because this is ridiculous. This is my father's university. This is my work
00:12:17.360that they're impeding. And I just it's ridiculous. It really is. Well, I want to thank you for0.94
00:12:26.220speaking out because some people in your shoes might have just shrugged it off and moved it on
00:12:31.520and nothing gets accomplished when people do that. You have to be public. You have to go public and
00:12:37.480you have to raise these issues in the public square, which is really all that your father
00:12:42.880was doing. If they didn't want to talk to him, all they had to do was say, I got nothing to say to
00:12:46.620you, you know, go away, leave us alone. And that would have been the end of it. I know that
00:12:50.400having been, we're having worked as a journalist for decades, you know, it happens all the time.
00:12:55.520You want to talk to somebody and, you know, we can put a mic in front of somebody's face. You
00:13:00.560can't force people to speak to you. You walk away and say, I'm not talking to you for whatever
00:13:04.440reason. That's a freedom that we have. We have the freedom to ask people questions, to engage
00:13:09.580with people. And they have the freedom to say, I don't want to engage with you. Thank you very
00:13:13.760much goodbye and walk away. That's the way it works in Canada. And apparently the University
00:13:18.760of Guelph doesn't understand that. But again, I want to thank you for coming on the show and
00:13:23.800please stay in touch with us as this story progresses. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you for
00:13:31.540helping me spread the word because I think this does need to be talked about in the public square
00:13:35.360for sure. And I do hope that the university listens to reason. I hope the director of security
00:13:40.980there, listens to reason, and I hope that he removes these trespass notices. Yeah, that's my
00:13:47.480hope right now. Sarah, appreciate it. Take care. Thank you. Our guest today is Juna News journalist
00:13:54.040Clayton DeMain, who's been covering this story. Welcome to the show, Clayton. Thanks for having
00:13:59.840me, Mark. I mean, so many of us saw the video of Sarah talking about how she'd been banned from the
00:14:06.980University of Guelph. She was not a student there. She was there for another event, I believe a
00:14:12.460Christian-related event at the university. And somehow there was an incident there in which
00:14:18.520someone within, you know, maybe shouting distance of her, like her father, was involved and engaged
00:14:26.100in some kind of conversation with people in a car next to her. And that, out of all that,
00:14:32.440came this incredible action by the University of Guelph to ban her. What do you make of this?
00:14:37.880Yeah, so talking to her, it sounds like it was, you know, like she even asked them to tell her
00:14:45.480what she did wrong. And it seemed like it was just because she was in the same car, she got out of
00:14:51.400the same car as that, you know, it was her father who struck up this conversation. She was, as she
00:14:58.600said 10 feet away and her brother actually got out of the car and was holding the car door open
00:15:05.320um because the conversation was interesting and so he he she says he's 16 he doesn't know what
00:15:12.440he's doing and he's just kind of listening into the conversation but it kind of brings the question
00:15:17.720of is it uh does it cross a line to ask somebody from a certain community about issues that are
00:15:25.960pressing in their community, right? Like if a Nigerian Christian, you know, you're talking to
00:15:32.320a Nigerian Christian, would it be appropriate to ask them about their thoughts on, you know,
00:15:37.120the Nigerian government's lack of action or action of, you know, Islamic terrorism
00:15:43.900threatening their community? Yeah, I mean, it shows a cultural difference here. When people
00:15:53.040come to our country, they're not used to sort of the free and open discussion of issues that might
00:15:59.120be deemed controversial in their country. My issue is with the University of Guelph,
00:16:05.460which seems to side with the anti-free speech side. I mean, I can understand why Canadians1.00
00:16:11.460will feel perfectly free to ask somebody, well, what do you think of this? Or what do you think
00:16:16.560of that? You know, you can always say, you know, pound sand, I got nothing to say to you.
00:16:20.800if you don't want to talk to them. But somehow this escalated to the point where they went,
00:16:26.580I guess, filed a complaint with the university who had this ham-fisted reaction. And I think
00:16:33.980this also speaks to the level of anti-free speech sentiment amongst the zealots in the
00:16:40.860administration, not only at Guelph, but at universities across the country, really. What
00:16:45.840do you think? Yeah, absolutely. And as I noted in the article, the university actually has a
00:16:51.980commitment to free expression, to uphold free expression. So I imagine if this became a charter
00:16:57.420challenge, that will be brought up. I've seen other cases where that's like front and center is
00:17:04.980what is the university's commitment to these rights that people have? And it just goes to
00:17:10.060the question of should campuses be a place where free expression, even if that conversation
00:17:17.440is unwelcomed, as the university put it to Sarah, should these conversations be allowed