This article was originally published on Michael Melanson’s substack Pax Humanitas. It has been republished with the author’s permission.
When friend, co-author and colleague, Frances Widdowson privately discussed her intention to come to the Universities of Manitoba and Winnipeg to do a Spectrum Street Epistemology (SSE), I warned her about the danger she would face. Winnipeg is the mecca of aboriginal militancy in Western Canada and these militants have been steadily feeling bolder after several incidents where law enforcement gave them a pass, most notably the rampage on the Legislature Grounds on Canada Day (!) 2021 when the statues of Queens Victoria and Elizabeth II were vandalized and toppled. Instead of receiving criminal charges, the Orange Shirts and their camouflaged warriors were graced with a commemorative garden on the grounds.
“We took the Kings grandmother’s crown (Queen Victoria) After unmarked graves of our indigenous children were discovered Victory for the IndigenousResistance,” (FB; trophy taken after the rampage on the Manitoba Legislative Grounds CANADA DAY 2021).
I warned Frances that she couldn’t count on enforcement if things got ugly and that two groups in particular would probably show up: the First Nations Indigenous Warriors (FNIW) and Crazy Indian Brotherhood. Frances didn’t think it would get that bad. As she jokingly replied, “I guess I should get my personal affairs in order.”
Frances announced two dates for two events. She would do her SSE at the University of Manitoba on Sept. 25 with the topic: “The ‘Grave Error’ at Kamloops Was a Hoax.” On Sept. 26, Frances planned to do a SSE at the University of Winnipeg (my alma mater) on the subject: “Residential School Denialism is a Barrier to Reconciliation.”
The U of M event went relatively calmly and there was some great discourse. The U of M had adequate security that kept control of the crowd. Plainclothes security were also present. Only two FNIW militants in camo were present (they would make their presence more forcefully known the next day). As moderate as the U of M event went, I knew that the U of W location would pose much greater risks because of its proximity to where most of these militants live. Within walking distance, several FNIW have been unlawfully occupying the once-heralded Thunderbird House for weeks now. Plus, the militants had Thursday night to coordinate themselves.
I warned her videographer, Daniel Page, a former Professor of Computer Science at the U of M who was simply volunteering his time to record the events on Frances’ behalf, that the situation at the U of W was probably going to be a lot worse than the U of M. He heeded my warning but if you’re not used to violent, irrational rage given social license over law and order, you perceive the threat abstractly. Like Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”
Screenshot of Winnipeg Free Press, Sept. 22, 2025
I knew it was going to be ugly at the U of W and I knew that Frances didn’t realize how bad it could get. She is used to dealing with angry students and not freelance militants of low cognitive faculty stoked for political violence. Branded, like myself, as a ‘residential school denialist’, publicly appearing as one after a constant feeding by media, local academia and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation itself that said denialism constitutes an “ongoing harm,” Frances was presenting herself as a target to a crowd hungry for one.
POV of Frances Widdowson when she was sitting on the ground and surrounded; Tre Delaronde of First Nations Indigenous Warriors
In all good conscience, I could not let her walk into that jungle alone.
Frances was swarmed the moment she appeared. Because he was obviously recording everything, Daniel Page was accosted and shoved back dozens of meters. He tried to explain that he was a professor and just there to take video but the value of academics was lost on this crowd before he got there. A sweet soul was driven to tears in the face of physical belligerence and mocked for it. These are the kind of people who cheer the death of Charlie Kirk, who want to set the world on fire and watch it burn. It’s an ignorant self-righteousness that justifies its violence.
“Hi, I’m Ben from the Blackfoot tribe and this bitch (Frances) hasn’t cried enough white tears yet.”
For something like 90 minutes, Frances was surrounded on all sides by women mostly bigger than her, banging drums and shaking rattles in her face, shouting abuse and spewing vitriol. With evident practice, some of the Orange Shirt women held up Every Child Matters flags to block the view of what was going on immediately around Frances: a good tactic if you want something not to be witnessed. In videos you can see women trying to restrain others who are letting their rage take over.
One citizen kept close to Frances for as long as he could and, thankfully, he at least had the authoritative bearing of a secret service agent. Later on, I saw him get clocked twice in the face deliberately by one of the Orange Shirt women banging a drum who exaggerated her back swing to strike him. He did not react. It was clear from the start that campus security was willing to let things escalate.
The Orange Shirts’ strategy was to try and escalate things. For example, if I was standing too near Frances, several Orange Shirt women would try and shove me. If I tried to hold my place, they would shout that I was shoving them. Then several CIB and FNIW members would swarm me and threaten violence if I touched “their women.” At one point, the campus security lead was standing next to me when I was shoved by one of the women. I asked him if he saw that because I knew that he did; he did a Sgt. Schultz instead.
The Orange Shirt women continued to push away any white-looking guy from being within 15 feet of Frances. Once pushed away, most of us were surrounded by several FNIW, CIB and other fellow travelers. They baited all of us to take a swing but one thing I learned about jail in Manitoba, if you fight one, you’ll be fighting them all. I was challenged several times to a fight, on or off campus, but this wasn’t the first time I had been confronted with stupid, juvenile male posturing. I knew that if any fistfights broke out, things would get much worse and Frances would probably be attacked and beaten. This was a lynch mob itching for a pretence; getting Frances out of there safely was my objective.
The narrative of missing and murdered children associated with residential schools is a political myth that serves the Orange Shirts much in the same way as the ‘Blood Flag’ worked for the Nazis, except for one significant difference. For the Orange Shirts, the political myth of dead babies also serves a psychological function: all the problems in their lives, their families and their communities can be placed wholly outside of themselves. It is easier to blame the government, the churches and colonialism than to look within at people who are supposed to be, for instance, kind and loving parents.
All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Parish of Bellis, Alta. after the fire in September 2025 (credit: Global News).
The obvious problem with this false attribution of cause is that it doesn’t address the real problems within aboriginal communities. For example, calling the problem of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women a genocide has done nothing to halt the disappearances and homicides, the majority of which by far are committed by domestic partners and people known to the victims.
In the aftermath of that eventful Friday on the campus of my alma mater, it is sadly telling how negligible has been any local reporting of the calamity. Perhaps news directors collectively decided to hush the news so as not to discourage public participation in the pending Orange Shirt Day ceremonies which, of course, prominently featured several of the perpetrators of Orange Friday’s violence, including Viv Ketchum and Geraldine Shingoose (yes, we have video). Perhaps they are afraid of offending their federal sponsors or are just afraid of the Orange Shirts who are politically ascendant and notoriously violent. Perhaps they really believe in the social mission of Truth and Reconciliation and do not wish to show the studded gloves of the Orange Shirts’ paramilitary wing so as not to distract from the pity parade. Perhaps, most of all, they were afraid of public sympathy for Frances and her cause.
If you’re a news director and you’re willing to ignore the violence and threats to free speech of last Friday, I think you’re tacitly condoning those attacks and I think you’re willing to excuse the perpetrators because projecting genocidal victimhood allows you to feel comfortable with your soft bigotry of low expectations. But Orange Friday is what happens when people internalize those low expectations and act like rabid, antisocial, juvenile delinquents filled with an ignorant self-righteousness.
The British historian, Michael Burleigh wrote: “Beware the sacralized collective.” The absolute victimhood assigned to aboriginal people has given some a sense of being absolutely entitled to act outside of the law. And when law turns a blind eye, the Orange Shirts feel all the more empowered to do as they please. If Winnipeg burns one day, it will be because of this.
