Their MP Is Indigenous. Their MLA Mocked Residential School Survivors

After the federal election, Vancouver’s west side is now represented provincially by an MLA who has openly mocked residential school survivors and by a federal MP who grew up on the Musqueam reserve.

It’s an indication of how residential school denialism and pushback against Indigenous rights have become right-wing political themes — and how communities are reacting.

Wade Grant, a former elected band councillor, is the new Liberal MP for Vancouver Quadra.

“My kid's grandmother went to a residential school; she never talked about it,” he told The Tyee. “My stepfather went to a residential school. He never talks about that. So having that personal connection and knowing the hurt that these people have, it really does upset me when people are questioning these people's truths.”

Dallas Brodie is one of those people. She’s the Independent MLA for the provincial riding of Vancouver-Quilchena, kicked out of the Conservative Party of BC caucus by leader John Rustad in March after “mocking” and “belittling” residential school survivors.

The ridings aren’t an exact match. Vancouver Quadra extends farther to the west and north, including the University of British Columbia endowment lands, Kitsilano and Point Grey. Vancouver-Quilchena overlaps with the federal riding but covers a smaller area.

But both contain the wealthy neighbourhoods of Dunbar, Kerrisdale and Southlands, where houses fetch upwards of $4 million. And both include the Musqueam reserve, 2.7 square kilometres sandwiched between two golf courses on the bank of the Fraser River.

Vancouver-Quilchena is represented by Brodie, a first-time MLA elected in October who’s become known for her frequent comments about Indigenous people. During the provincial campaign, Brodie said that First Nations leaders should “take responsibility” for Indigenous people who live in the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver’s poorest neighbourhood.

Her expulsion from the Conservative Party of BC caucus came after she mocked residential school survivors in a two-hour video call posted to YouTube.

After the Liberals won the federal election, Brodie joined the two other Independent MLAs in signing a letter that warned the result would lead to growing support for B.C. to separate from Canada, citing “more than 200 Indigenous bands asserting sovereignty” as one of a number of problems threatening the province. (There are 203 First Nations in B.C.; 65 are currently involved in the treaty negotiation process with the province.)

The Tyee contacted Dallas Brodie for comment on this story. Tim Thielmann, who ran unsuccessfully for the B.C. Conservatives in the last provincial election, responded and asked The Tyee to send specific questions. The Tyee did not receive a response from either Brodie or Thielmann by deadline.

However, after publication, Brodie sent a response saying she stands by her comments and has received support from her constituents.

Grant acknowledged that he’s criticized Brodie in the past, denouncing her comments about the Downtown Eastside in social media posts and her amplification of residential school denial talking points during the provincial election campaign.

“I’ll continue to stand up for what’s right” when it comes to calling out anti-Indigenous racism, he said.

But Grant said his campaign focused on the issues that were important to people in the riding. U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canada, worries about both housing density and housing affordability, and concerns about the environment and climate change were all top of mind for voters, he said.

“I recognize I'm Indigenous, but I'm also a quarter Chinese and a quarter Caucasian,” Grant told The Tyee. “I went out there letting them know I'm the candidate that happens to be Indigenous. I grew up here. I have deep roots in this community. I went to school, to all three levels of school, in Vancouver Quadra.”

When he campaigned on the Musqueam reserve, Grant said, the conversations were not as policy focused.

“Everybody was really excited that I was running,” Grant said. “To see somebody from the reserve representing them, it was emotional — a lot of people were giving me big hugs.”

“Almost every house had my sign in their yard, and I heard stories that some of my cousins were voting for the very first time in their life.”

Grant said a look at the riding’s history explains how Vancouver-Quilchena voters came to elect Brodie. She had previously made a number of controversial comments, including suggesting that people with addictions and mental health issues should be held on a boat in the Fraser River.

Grant said voters had always backed candidates from the BC Liberals, the dominant centre-right party for three decades.

But when leader Kevin Falcon shut down the faltering BC United campaign — the renamed BC Liberals — in the face of surging support for the Conservative Party of BC, voters who were determined not to vote NDP had little choice, Grant suggested.

The federal riding of Vancouver Quadra is a reliable riding for the Liberals. It was held by Joyce Murray from 2008 to 2025. Other well-connected MPs included Stephen Owen, who served as a cabinet minister in Paul Martin’s government, and John Turner, the ’80s-era leader of the Liberals who was briefly prime minister after the resignation of Pierre Trudeau.

Grant said he’s always wanted to run for provincial or federal office and jumped at the chance to run in Vancouver Quadra — the riding where he was raised, attended public school and has raised his own children. Murray’s decision not to run again provided his opening, and he said he immediately put his “hat in the ring.”

“I didn't want to go anywhere else. I wanted to run in my own riding to represent Vancouver Quadra or Vancouver-Quilchena in the provincial government,” Grant said.

“So when Joyce Murray announced she wasn't going to run again in the summer of 2023, I decided to put my name forward and start signing up members, and I've been doing that ever since.”

Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia, said that although views on Indigenous rights and Canada’s colonial history have changed over the last 30 years, fears about First Nations governments getting more control over land-use decisions have continued to crop up in B.C. politics. And some politicians have amplified those fears.

When Gordon Campbell, then the leader of the BC Liberals, became premier in 2001, he held a referendum to ask voters how the B.C. government should negotiate treaties — a vote that was opposed by the First Nations Summit on the grounds that the referendum would be divisive and warning that “the moral and legal rights of one group should not be determined by a majority.”

More recently, Rustad proposed repealing B.C. legislation that affirms the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Both Rustad and Falcon warned that proposed changes to B.C.’s Land Act to reflect the declaration could mean “returning all traditional lands.”

On the federal level, First Nations have expressed concerns with the focus on “economic reconciliation” from both Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney, fearing it might be an attempt to avoid recognition of Indigenous rights. The Conservatives’ decision to run Aaron Gunn as a candidate in the B.C. riding of North Island-Powell River, with a large First Nations population, also led to controversy, when past comments he’d made about residential schools were resurfaced.

Gunn’s frequent comments about celebrating the legacy of John A. Macdonald were also seen as a dog whistle by some First Nations leaders, who view the first prime minister of Canada as “the implementer of the genocide for the First Nations people in this country.”

Prest said “we still see shaping of the discussion” around land claim skepticism or reconciliation skepticism.

“They will frame it in this economic reconciliation language that Pierre Poilievre prefers as well, but I think it's really driven by this underlying animus towards any sense of responsibility for Indigenous Peoples on the part of non-Indigenous society.”

Grant said he’s determined to represent all the constituents of his riding, whether they voted for him or not. But he said he also wants to play a part in advocating for Indigenous issues at the federal level.

“As a member of Parliament for Vancouver Quadra and a member of Parliament for Musqueam — and Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh as well, because this is our shared territory — I'll be a strong voice for that,” Grant said.

“I know that Mark Carney has indicated that the work that the former Liberal government has done in reconciliation is not complete, and we need to continue on that path.”