British Columbia has become one of the most politically radical jurisdictions in the Western world—but how did it get there?
In this episode of the Quillette Podcast, host Jonathan Kay speaks with BC MLA Dallas Brodie about the province’s entrenched progressive politics under Premier David Eby—from drug decriminalisation and education activism to the enduring myth of “215 unmarked graves” at the Kamloops residential school.
Four years after the claim first triggered a national moral panic, no bodies have been found—yet the story remains politically untouchable in British Columbia, repeated by institutions, regulators, and professional bodies. Brodie explains how questioning the narrative cost her party backing, led to her expulsion from caucus, and pushed her to form a new political movement.
They also discuss British Columbia’s post-industrial shift from blue-collar labour to activist bureaucracy, the collapse of centre-right opposition in the 2024 election, and why ideological loyalty now matters more than evidence in Canadian public life.
This is a revealing case study in how moral panics harden into political orthodoxy—and how dissent is punished even when the facts are uncontested.
00:00 — Introduction: BC as Canada’s political outlier
07:15 — Interview begins
08:38 — From harm reduction to hard-drug normalisation
10:33 — Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and policy failure
13:07 — SOGI 123, decolonisation, and education politics
16:48 — The 2024 election and Conservative Party implosion
22:03 — Caucus chaos, land acknowledgements, ideological tests
27:35 — Kamloops “215 graves”: claims vs evidence
30:24 — The tweet that changed Brodie’s career
39:32 — Expulsion, smears, and political exile
47:54 — The “woke right” and OneBC
56:03 — Media silence, burned churches, and unanswered questions
01:02:19 — Death threats, property rights, and why Brodie persists
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Quillette is an Australian-based online magazine that focuses on long-form analysis and cultural commentary. It is politically non-partisan, but relies on reason, science, and humanism as its guiding values.
Quillette was founded in 2015 by Australian writer Claire Lehmann. It is a platform for free thought and a space for open discussion and debate on a wide range of topics, including politics, culture, science, and technology.
Quillette has gained attention for publishing articles and essays that challenge modern orthodoxy on a variety of topics, including gender and sexuality, race and identity politics, and free speech and censorship.
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