City of Kamloops defends cancellation of OneBC’s booking ahead of planned Sunday town hall

“I can confirm that the city did issue an event permit to OneBC for their event on June 7,” acting Kamloops CAO Jen Fretz said. “That permit had conditions that were agreed to by OneBC and they included specific requirements for additional security.”

“The city follows consistent processes when it comes to event applications and this process is exactly the same as what we would follow for any other event applicant.”

On Friday (June 5), the city released a copy of the agreement it signed with OneBC along with an event security and safety plan in the interest of transparency, noting “questions are being raised about what made up the security and safety costs.”

The documents showed OneBC was required to pay an initial “base” fee of $583.32 to rent the Kia Lounge, with payment due no later than five days prior to the day of the event. The party said it paid that fee weeks ago, and it accused the city of using safety as an excuse to charge them more.

However, the documents also warned of possible additional “operational security and safety costs” that were also due by June 2. The city estimated those costs to be $7,729.42 – $3,041.18 for policing costs, $3,188.24 in costs for Community Services Officers, and $1,500 for exterior safety, security and crowd control.

“Those security costs were a combination of efforts between the city and the RCMP,” Fretz added. “And OneBC – despite agreeing to the permit conditions and being given extensions for payment – did not pay the security costs, so we had no choice but to cancel their permit.”

The documents noted that while the city had the right to invoice for any additional costs incurred beyond the initial estimate, it would also refund any overpayments once actual costs were realized.

In a statement, OneBC accused the city of attempting to extort thousands of dollars from a political party that “city bureaucrats don’t like.” It also claimed the city justified those additional costs by using “a vague loophole in the contract.”

“We know they don’t like OneBC because they even posted a now-deleted statement on the city website where they condemned OneBC and Dallas Brodie before claiming they would still honour their duty to let us use the taxpayer-funded space,” the party statement said.

“There is no RCMP report or any evidence provided by the city showing a safety risk exists, let alone one that requires nearly [$8,000] to be spent to mitigate it.”

“This looks like a form of extortion,” the party’s statement added. “OneBC and our leader Dallas Brodie will be looking into every legal option available to put a stop to this bureaucratic veto.”

“The idea behind charging the fees to OneBC is that we didn’t feel that it was appropriate for taxpayers to be burned by costs related to one specific event,” Fretz said, of the security costs. “[It] is exactly what we would do with other events that required additional security.”

Last November, Brodie joined several prominent residential school denialists who attempted to hold an unsanctioned event on the Thompson Rivers University campus. They were met by counter protestors that day, and the next day Brodie and her supporters ended up rallying in an Aberdeen cul-de-sac after other venues also cancelled on them.

While last year’s events at TRU took aim at “aboriginal title claims in Kamloops, property rights and the need for constitutional change,” this party said this weekend’s event was to be about “affordability, infrastructure, local decision-making, and the pressures facing families and small businesses.”

In a statement Friday, Tkemlúps te Secwépemc Kukwpi7 Rosanne Casimir said conversations about land, governance and economic opportunities matter to all British Columbians, but also noted it must be approached with care and without causing further harm.

“We affirm how harmful residential school denialism is for our communities, our relationships and to the work of truth and reconciliation,” Casimir said in the statement.

“We will continue to engage in respectful, constructive dialogue with our neighbours, the City of Kamloops, and political leaders where that dialogue is rooted in respect for Indigenous rights and title and in historic, scientific and legal truth.”

In its now-deleted Wednesday statement, the City of Kamloops also said it does not “support or condone residential school denialism, anti Indigenous racism or any form of hate speech.”

“These perspectives are harmful, undermine reconciliation, and stand in direct opposition to the values of respect, inclusion, and truth that we are committed to upholding as a municipality,” the city statement said.

That statement also noted that denying OneBC’s booking on the basis of the past rhetoric or views associated with the organizers…would expose the City to a Charter challenge that “we would not succeed in defending.”

Asked why the statement was rescinded, Fretz said it was because it was “inadvertently released without going through the proper approval channels.”

In its statement, OneBC accused the City of Kamloops of being the only organization trying to “stir up trouble and hatred.” The party also plans to still hold an event in Kamloops this Sunday, at a location that will only be shared with people who register online.

by Victor Kaisar

City of Kamloops defends cancellation of OneBC’s booking ahead of planned Sunday town hall

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