This article was originally published on the Western Standard website on April 15, 2026. It has been reposted with the Standard’s permission.
A former BC indigenous chief has said that she “wishes” Dr. Frances Widdowson would be beaten and raped so she would understand “what our people went through” with regards to the legacy of indigenous residential schools.
During a Tuesday livestream hosted by the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Faculty of Medicine, Charlene Belleau of the Esk’etemc First Nation in BC recounted a heated confrontation she had with Widdowson at Thompson Rivers University in November 2025.
The incident occurred during a campus protest linked to a visit by Widdowson, Dallas Brodie, leader of the OneBC party, and former teacher Jim McMurtry, which questioned the narrative around the alleged “mass graves” at the Kamloops Residential School.
At the time, the event drew criticism from university and indigenous leaders who referred to the protest as “residential school denialism.”
Belleau told Derek Thompson, UBC’s Director of Indigenous Engagement, that she approached Widdowson and told the former Mount Royal University professor about her uncle who had been in the residential schools.
“I was really angry with her, but I expressed my anger to her right there,” Belleau said, adding she told Widdowson she was “hurting our people, hurting the survivors.”
“I told her, ‘I wish that our people could grab you, drag you over to the Kamloops Residential School, put you into a basement, speak our language to you, nothing but Secwépemc, beat you, rape you, hurt you, and maybe you’d understand what we — our people went through.’”
Belleau — who was the recipient of a 2025 King Charles III Coronation Medal after being nominated by BC Premier David Eby — said Widdowson didn’t respond to her, nor did she expect a response, but felt it was necessary to confront her, adding that UBC had offered her security for the protest due to safety concerns.
After the exchange, Belleau stated she performed a drum song in honour of her uncle to rally students in support so that“they didn’t have to hear what [Widdowson] had to say.”
Following a clip of Belleau’s remarks making the rounds on social media, Aaron Pete, Chief of Chawathil First Nation, stated on X that he believed her perspective was “not appropriate” and that he didn’t condone “this type of rhetoric.”
He said that it was likely Belleau had been “abused” in the residential school system and that when she “hears denialism, a word plagued with poor definitions, I’m certain that she believes that Frances is denying the abuse she went through, and the abuse her friends and family went through.”
“I’m not excusing her behaviour, but I do hope explaining it helps us find common ground,” Pete said.
In a social media statement posted to X on Wednesday, Widdowson stated her position was that Belleau’s “individual experiences” should be weighed against other forms of evidence, adding that the story of Belleau’s uncle, Augustine Allen, may not be completely true as Belleau has referred to him at different times in the past as “her uncle, her great uncle, her grandfather, and her great grandfather.”
“We don’t even know with certainty that he is related to her,” Widdowson said.
“Chief Belleau is also not just an innocent Elder who has accidentally weighed in on this topic. She is using her power to try to have me silenced. She is a major player in the residential schools discussion and the censorious environment that surrounds it.”
At the same time, Widdowson felt Belleau shouldn’t be cancelled or intimidated “in any way.”
“She has not engaged in threats or ‘hate speech,’” Widdowson said.
“She has made a ‘wish,’ which is not a threat. Although she perhaps is opening me up to ‘detestation and vilification,’ I don’t think she is doing this on the basis of a ‘protected ground’ that I have.”
Widdowson further criticized UBC, accusing its administration and Thompson of saying “alarming things” and stating that the university should invite her, Pete, Belleau, and Thompson to “have an open and honest discussion about these matters.”
