Calls for accountability are mounting in British Columbia after a senior Indigenous leader demanded that B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad dismiss a caucus staffer who disparaged the Survivors’ flag — a banner honouring residential school survivors — as a “fake flag” and a “disgrace.”
The controversy erupted after a flag-raising ceremony last Thursday at the legislature in Victoria, held ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. MLAs from across parties, including NDP, Green, and Conservatives, joined the event.
The following day, Lindsay Shepherd, a communications staffer with the Conservative caucus, posted on social media:
“The Orange Shirt and the Orange Flag perpetuate untruths about Canadian history… It is a disgrace that this fake flag flies in front of the provincial parliament buildings.”
Shepherd deleted the post soon after, but not before a screenshot was shared publicly by NDP MLA Rohini Arora.
Arora condemned the remarks as harmful denialism:
“Denying the horrific realities of residential schools is perpetuating anti-Indigenous sentiment. B.C. Conservative MLAs need to stand up and denounce this.”
Leaders, survivors respond
The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) went further. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip described the comments as “shocking” and “absolutely disgusting,” calling on Rustad to act decisively:
“Residential school denial is a terrible, racist sickness… It’s astonishing that there can be that level of ignorance in this modern day.”
Former B.C. Green MLA Adam Olsen, a negotiator for the Tsartlip First Nation, also condemned the remarks as “vile” and “toxic,” saying they reopen wounds for survivors and families:
“I feel for all our relatives who have to confront these kinds of messages and have their entire history questioned in such a mean-spirited way.”
While Rustad has not publicly addressed Shepherd’s post, caucus spokesperson Ryan Painter declined comment Monday and would not confirm if Shepherd remains employed.
Political context
The uproar highlights ongoing tensions around reconciliation and Indigenous rights in the province. Just last week, Rustad pledged to repeal B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) and argued that Indigenous title cannot coexist with private property rights — a stance critics say politicizes reconciliation.
The party has faced similar controversies. In March, Rustad expelled caucus member Dallas Brodie after she used a “mocking, child-like voice” to describe survivor testimony on a podcast. Brodie had also faced backlash for posting online that “the number of confirmed child burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site is zero.”
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission documented more than 4,100 children who died in residential schools, many from malnutrition and disease, based on testimony from more than 6,000 former students. In 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation announced ground-penetrating radar results at Kamloops that identified 215 potential burial sites, later described as anomalies but still widely recognized as evidence of children’s remains.
As Grand Chief Phillip warned, Shepherd’s post is more than an ill-considered remark:
“It gives public expression to denialism with impunity… and that is simply unacceptable.”
