Maple Ridge
Mayor
Jacques Blackstone ❌ not elected
Pro-convoy, pro-anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, pro-white supremacist dog whistles.
(“Honk Honk” Was An Antisemitic Meme Long Before The Convoy Started Using It)
Jacques has an entire page of his campaign website dedicated to the Word Economic Forum. Find more on why WEF conspiracies are anti-Semitic below.
Corisa Bell ❌ not elected
Corisa is the “awake” choice going around convoy groups–initially surprising, given the above candidate. While her social media is decidedly sparse between March 2020 and the 2022 municipal election season, Facebook likes stick around forever.
Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is a “legal advocacy” convoy/freedom group that claims to know the Canadian Constitutional while they spread disinformation about COVID and vaccines. They provide legal representation to people who want to sue various government and health organizations because Costco told them to wear a mask during the peak of a pandemic.
Mike Morden ❌ not elected
Mike spoke at Canadian Freedom Coalition event. CFC is an antivaxx “freedom” groups that promotes all the usual convoy-related extremism.
Council
Judy Dueck ✅ elected
Judy participated in a Canadian Freedom Coalition event.
Ryan Svendsen ❌ not elected
Ryan participated in a Canadian Freedom Coalition event.
Chelsa Meadus ❌ not elected
In addition to seeking votes from the Canadian Freedom Coalition, Chelsa spoke at an Action4Canada event.
Leah Pillett ❌ not elected
Leah is an antivaxxer, anti-mask, overpass rally regular, and purveyor of misinformation. She supports Action4Canada, Stand United, Canadian Freedom Coalition.
School trustee (SD 42)
Johnnie Day (Parents Voice BC)
❌ not elected
Brian Dominick (Parents Voice BC)
❌ not elected
Brian spoke at a World Freedom Rally in Vancouver in 2021 and said: “This is not a Canadian problem folks. This is a global, elitist parasite problem and they are the ones that need to be exterminated.”
World Economic Forum (WEF)
World Economic Forum conspiracies come up several times in North Cowichan debates. The WEF is an NGO and lobbying organization. It’s well-known, it’s well-funded, and it attracts celebrity–but it’s not the only one. Like many other lobbyists at every level of government, there are legitimate criticisms to be made around it’s finances and transparency and impact and corporate influence in politics. But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.
During the COVID pandemic, the WEF became a shadowy superanational force that secretly controls the world. The Great Reset is totalitarian communism, you will own nothing, you will eat bugs, you will get the boosters. The WEF conspiracy is an extension of the well-established New World Order (NWO) conspiracy, which states that a cabal of powerful elites (often Jewish people, because it’s based in anti-Semitism) secretly control the world. NWO and WEF conspiracies are staples of QAnon adherents, who also say that the NWO is a cabal of pedophiles preying on children. Here are some posts and articles if you want to learn more and see why this conspiracy is spectacularly problematic when someone seeks political office:
“The Great Reset” Conspiracy Flourishes Amid Continued Pandemic
Rudyard Griffiths: WEF conspiracies are antisemitic and a moral stain on conservative politics
This is Action4Canada
Action4Canada promotes far-right extremism based in religious fundamentalism. From their website: “Our mission is to protect Canada’s rich heritage which is founded on Judeo-Christian biblical principles. Inherited through our British Commonwealth and embedded in the Magna Carta, these principles form our laws and values and are the basis of a system of governance that sets us apart from totalitarian, extremist and communist regimes.” (Others might describe that as “white supremacist-flavoured Christofascism.”) They rally against SOGI education, LGBT2S+ rights, Islam, abortions, climate change science, immigration, and 5G. Action4Canada predates the pandemic, but quickly began rallying against public health mandates, vaccines, and basic medical science.
This is Stand United
Stand United rallies around COVID conspiracy theories and the usual far-right talking points. Their rallies regularly include transphobia, including delightful songs like “boys have peepees and girls have vajayjays” (because the world will literally end if children learn proper names for their body parts). They platform people like anti-Semitic holocaust denier and elementary school science failure Chris Sky and disinformation specialist Daniel Nagase. Stand United organized regular Media is the Virus rallies, such as the event that held downtown Vancouver hostage and harassed Vancouver hospitals on February 5, 2022. In BC, Stand United is organized by Marcella Williams, a.ka. Marcella Desjarlais, 2021 People’s Party of Canada candidate for Burnaby South, and James Davison. Currently, Stand United is serving fake legal documents (“notice of liability”) to scare and harass BC pharmacists, health care providers, city councils, and other who support vaccinations or public health measures. This is their crew:
This is Union of the People (UOP)
Union of the People is pure COVID and mental health disinformation, with a side of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and far-right politics. They organize on the ground and seek to create a parallel society around “morality.” UOP members have helped other members acquire and use firearms and UOP offers regular training in self-defense.
This is Parents Voice BC
Parents Voice BC is a social conservative party that shelters anti-SOGI 123 activists, transphobia, religious fundamentalism, the convoy/freedom movement, and COVID-related conspiracy theories. Parents Voice BC is recommended by Action4Canada.
Mysterious slate of right-wing school board candidates on Vernon, Kelowna ballots
New B.C. party pushing school board candidates with anti-vax and conspiratorial views
New B.C. school trustee slate has ‘freedom fighters’ and pro-SOGI candidates: Founder
Kelowna’s new political slate is right-wing — but how right wing?
ParentsVoice BC to run slate of candidates in Kelowna wanting to ‘take back our schools’
ParentsVoice BC aims to elect school board candidates in 10 B.C. districts
ParentsVoice candidates a no-show at Vernon school district debate
No Hate on Council 