The 'We Unify Reclaiming Canada' conference in Victoria, initially billed as a gathering of diverse political viewpoints, descended into chaos with right-wing speakers, protests, and security breaches.
When the organizer of the We Unify Reclaiming Canada event contacted officials about booking the Victoria Conference Centre, he touted invitees from across the political spectrum, including liberal luminaries such as Amal Clooney, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, B.C.'s NDP Premier David Eby, movie stars and more. Jonathan Bower told the sales director of the city-owned conference centre last December he'd be staging the event 'in the same spirit' as the Munk Debates in Toronto.
But by the time the two-day conference was held in June, the likes of Clooney and Trudeau were nowhere to be seen. Instead, speakers included right-wing commentator Lauren Southern, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who is now Donald Trump's nominee to head the National Institutes of Health, Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich and Vaccine Choice Canada president Ted Kuntz. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the Freedom of Information Act show how the centre came to host the event after a city official said it 'cannot restrict expression' — then banned We Unify and Bower from the site in future, citing 'concerns about misrepresentation'. 'Event notes' by conference centre staff and emails also depict chaotic scenes, with delegates running in fear from protesters who had entered the building, and at least two calls made to emergency services. There were 'escalating security concerns' from the conference centre after discussions with Victoria Police, who had to deal with an assault allegation and repeated incursions into the centre by demonstrators, the documents say. The documents also show the event ran at a loss for the city. 'Several team members felt unsafe and refused to work due to the nature of the event,' Nathan Gauld, the centre's assistant director of sales and events told Bower in an August email. 'Those who did work reported a chaotic and disorganized environment, which was exacerbated by frustrating interactions with you and your team leads
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