Dallas Brodie

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_suffix = MLA

| office = Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Quilchena

| termstart = October 19, 2024

| termend =

| predecessor = Kevin Falcon

| office1 = Opposition critic of the Ministry of Attorney General of British Columbia

| leader1 = John Rustad

| 1blankname1 = Shadowing

| 1namedata1 = Niki Sharma

| termstart1 = November 20, 2024

| termend1 = March 7, 2025

| predecessor1 = Mike de Jong

| successor1 = vacant

| party = Independent

| otherparty = BC Conservative (until 2025)

| children =

| residence = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

}}

Dallas Brodie is a Canadian politician and lawyer serving as a member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (MLA) since 2024. She was initially elected to represent the riding of Vancouver-Quilchena as a member of the Conservative Party. In November 2024, she was named as the attorney general critic in John Rustad's shadow cabinet. In March 2025, she was expelled from the party for a video defending her factual (as of May 2025) statement about zero bodies being confirmed at suspected Canadian Indian residential school gravesites{{cite news |last=Austen |first=Ian |date=20 September 2024 |title=What Lies Beneath Canada's Former Indigenous School Sites Fuels a Debate |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/canada-indigenous-schools-unmarked-graves.html |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250327232752/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/canada-indigenous-schools-unmarked-graves.html |archive-date=27 March 2025 |access-date=24 November 2024 |work=The New York Times |location=}} which Rustad said was "to publicly mock and belittle testimony from former residential school students."{{cite news |last=Little |first=Simon |date=10 March 2025 |title=3 BC Conservatives to be Independents in the legislature |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/11074548/3-bc-conservatives-independents/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250316083948/https://globalnews.ca/news/11074548/3-bc-conservatives-independents/ |archive-date=16 March 2025 |access-date=8 May 2025 |work=Global News}} She is currently sitting as an independent.

Early life and career

Brodie, a lawyer, worked as an arbitrator on British Columbia's Residential Tenancy Branch, which deals with landlord-tenant disputes, for a decade before quitting in 2017. She criticized underfunding for the body, with arbitrators being paid less than comparable lawyers and overworked to meet the required deadlines.{{Cite news |last=Gold |first=Kerry |date=March 13, 2019 |title=The veiled world of B.C. rental arbitration |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/article-the-veiled-world-of-bc-rental-arbitration/?cmpid=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter |access-date=December 19, 2024 |work=The Globe and Mail}} Brodie has also worked as a criminal defence lawyer who took on Legal Aid BC youth cases.

Brodie later worked in broadcasting as a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation producer in Toronto and Ottawa. Afterwards she worked for the CKNW talk radio station in Vancouver and for the CITR-FM station at the University of British Columbia as a weekly host. While at UBC she travelled to Israel alongside the campus's Hillel organization.{{Cite news |last=Meissner |first=Dirk |date=April 24, 2022 |title=Byelection a battle over past and future for BC Liberal leader Kevin Falcon, experts |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-quilchena-byelection-1.6429358 |access-date=December 19, 2024 |work=CBC News |agency=The Canadian Press}}

Political career

Brodie first ran as the Conservative Party of British Columbia candidate in the April 2022 Vancouver-Quilchena by-election. She placed fourth, receiving 6.60% of the vote, with BC Liberal leader Kevin Falcon winning the seat.{{Cite web |date=December 20, 2022 |title=Report of the Chief Electoral Officer: 2022 Vancouver-Quilchena and Surrey South By-elections |url=https://www.elections.bc.ca/docs/rpt/2022-vancouver-quilchena-surrey-south-by-elections-report.pdf |access-date=October 23, 2024 |website=Elections BC}}{{Cite web |last=Fletcher |first=Tom |date=2022-04-30 |title=Kevin Falcon takes Vancouver by-election for seat in B.C. legislature |url=https://www.goldstreamgazette.com/news/kevin-falcon-takes-vancouver-by-election-for-seat-in-b-c-legislature-637779 |access-date=2024-10-23 |website=Goldstream News Gazette |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=April 29, 2022 |title=B.C. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon wins legislature seat in Vancouver-Quilchena |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-quilchena-byelection-1.6436958}} Federally that year, Brodie donated $3,350 to the People's Party of Canada.{{Cite news |last=LeBrun |first=Luke |date=October 20, 2024 |title=Meet the Extreme, Far-Right BC Conservative Candidates Who Are Now Legislators Following BC's Wild Election |url=https://pressprogress.ca/meet-the-extreme-far-right-bc-conservative-candidates-who-are-now-legislators-following-bcs-wild-election/ |access-date=December 18, 2024 |work=PressProgress}}

During an October all-candidates debate during the 2024 provincial election, Brodie doubled down on previous comments she had made on a podcast about what First Nations in British Columbia should do if they wanted autonomy and treatment as equals. She stated that "a large percentage your people are on the Downtown Eastside," called on them to "take responsibility", and accused them of "leav[ing] your people". Stewart Phillip, the Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs condemned the comment as "absolutely disgusting, ignorant and profoundly stupid."{{Cite news |last=Brunoro |first=Michele |date=October 11, 2024 |title=BC Conservative candidate under fire for comments about First Nations |url=https://bc.ctvnews.ca/bc-conservative-candidate-under-fire-for-comments-about-first-nations-1.7072246 |access-date=December 19, 2024 |work=CTV News}}{{Cite news |last=Junos |first=Kier |date=October 27, 2024 |title=First Nations leaders condemn racist comments by BC Conservative Party candidate |url=https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2024/10/27/bc-election-racist-comments-conservative-party-first-nations/ |access-date=December 19, 2024 |work=CityNews}} The Conservative Party released a statement in which Brodie said she had been cut off before she could finish her statement with a call for reconciliation. The comments lead to criticism and calls for Conservative leader John Rustad to remove her as a candidate, but Rustad refused, saying it was up to voters.{{Cite news |last1=Joannou |first1=Ashley |last2=Chiang |first2=Chuck |date=October 11, 2024 |title=Rustad stands by B.C. Conservative candidates under fire, says voters can judge them |url=https://www.richmond-news.com/politics/rustad-stands-by-bc-conservative-candidates-under-fire-says-voters-can-judge-them-9645969 |access-date=December 19, 2024 |work=Richmond News}}

Brodie was elected in Vancouver-Quilchena with 51.6% of the vote.{{Cite web |title=BC election 2024 results: Vancouver-Quilchena {{!}} Globalnews.ca |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/10779125/bc-election-2024-results-vancouver-quilchena/ |access-date=2024-10-20 |website=Global News |language=en-US}}{{cite web |title=B.C. Election Results: NDP maintains 11 of 12 Vancouver ridings despite boundary shifts |url=https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-election-results-2024-vancouver |publisher=Vancouver Sun |access-date=19 November 2024}} She was named to the shadow cabinet as the attorney general critic.

In February 2025, Brodie stated on a social media post that "zero" children had been confirmed to have been buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, which Conservative house leader Áʼa꞉líya Warbus criticized as harmful, despite that as of May 2025 that no bodies have been confirmed at the suspected gravesite of Kamloops or any other residential school in Canada, and a distraction for the party from more important issues. Rustad asked Brodie to take down the post, which she refused to do.{{Cite news |last=DeRosa |first=Katie |date=February 24, 2025 |title=B.C. Conservative MLA refutes charge of residential school denialism |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/residential-school-denialism-defence-1.7467459 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=CBC News}} The same day as Rustad made his request, Brodie was one of five Conservative MLAs to vote against a motion condemning the tariff threats of American president Donald Trump and the supporting retaliatory tariffs if necessary.{{Cite news |last=DeRosa |first=Kaite |date=February 25, 2025 |title=NDP tariff motion exposes divisions in B.C. Conservative caucus |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/conservative-caucus-tariff-division-1.7468415 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=CBC News}}

The following month, during an online discussion hosted by Frances Widdowson, Brodie described Warbus's comments as "vociferous hatred" and suggested that she should join the New Democratic Party. The video prompted the Métis Nation British Columbia to call for her removal from caucus.{{Cite news |last=DeRosa |first=Katie |date=March 6, 2025 |title=Divisions over residential school facts erupt inside B.C. Conservative caucus meeting |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/divisions-erupt-b-c-conservative-caucus-meeting-1.7477242 |access-date=March 6, 2025 |work=CBC News}} On March 7, she was expelled by Rustad as a result.{{cite news |last=Kurjata |first=Andrew |title=B.C. Conservative leader kicks Dallas Brodie out of caucus for 'mocking' residential school testimony |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/dallas-brodie-removed-from-b-c-conservative-caucus-1.7478162 |access-date=March 7, 2025 |work=CBC News |date=March 7, 2025}}{{cite news |last1=Gangdev |first1=Srushti |last2=Brockman |first2=Charles |title=B.C. Conservatives fire MLA Dallas Brodie after mocking Residential School Survivors |url=https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2025/03/07/bc-conservatives-fire-dallas-brodie/ |work=CityNews Vancouver |access-date=7 March 2025 |language=en |date=7 March 2025}}

Political views

Brodie has also been a supporter of the State of Israel and participated in the March of the Living program in Poland through the Canada-Israel Committee.{{Cite news |date=July 12, 2024 |title=Tory leader woos Jews |url=https://www.jewishindependent.ca/tory-leader-woos-jews/ |access-date=December 19, 2024 |work=Jewish Independent}}

Personal life

Brodie lives in her Vancouver-Quilchena riding.

Electoral record

{{2022 British Columbia provincial by-elections/Vancouver-Quilchena}}

References

External links

{{Official website|https://www.conservativebc.ca/dallasbrodie}}
[https://www.leg.bc.ca/members/43rd-Parliament/Brodie-Dallas Legislative Assembly of British Columbia profile]

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Living people

Category:British Columbia Conservative Party MLAs

Category:Independent MLAs in British Columbia

Category:21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

Category:21st-century Canadian women politicians

Category:Women MLAs in British Columbia

Category:Lawyers in British Columbia