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The battle for the Valleyview Municipal Library
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Journalist Susan Thompson joins us on the pod with the latest from Valleyview, where the local library is under political siege from a batch of odd characters including a UCP VP of comms and a white nationalist who worked for the local MLA.
Full show notes at https://www.theprogressreport.ca/pod_the_battle_for_the_valleyview_library
Support the Progress Report by donation at https://www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons
Read Susan Thompson on Medium: https://medium.com/@susanvhthompson/valleyview-library-board-rocked-by-controversy-cuts-weekly-staff-budget-c2baab48fde2
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:12
Speaker
Friends and enemies, welcome to the Progress Report podcast. Kavanache from Amiskutiu, Skaigan in Treaty 6 territory, otherwise known as Edmonton, Alberta. We are your hosts, Jim Story and Jeremy Appel. Jeremy, how are you doing today?
00:00:25
Speaker
ah Great. Not annoyed at all at having to re-record this episode. Yeah, i definitely I definitely didn't just
Introducing Susan Thompson
00:00:35
Speaker
screw it up. let's ah Let's get right into it because we've already used up a lot of our guest's time today.
00:00:42
Speaker
Our guest today is Susan Thompson. Susan has been covering the conflict in Valley View that a lot of people
Library Defunding Conflict
00:00:50
Speaker
have not heard about. There's a bit of a municipal war going on up there over control of the local library.
00:00:58
Speaker
Some figures from the far right and the Convoy and the UCP are all coalescing to take out a library. It seems because the library was hosting a GSA or Gay Straight Alliance Club.
00:01:12
Speaker
Susan Thompson, our guest today, is a ah freelance journalist who covers the far right and issues like this and has been just glued to this issue since it was first reported. Susan, thanks for coming on the show.
00:01:28
Speaker
Thanks for taking the time, even the time we had to do for the the practice run of this episode. You bet. I was hoping that you could just jump right into it and give us a lay of the land because most of our listeners, unless they read the, there was a CBC report back in February, but aside from that, there's been very little coverage of what's going on up in Valley View. So please introduce our listeners to the entire situation.
The Role of External Media
00:01:55
Speaker
I think you did a great job of summarizing what's happening. um The library has been defunded by about 52%, which was the first big issue. And now it's being forced to move to a new school location.
00:02:07
Speaker
um So it would be sharing a building with the school, which has happened in other buildings across the province, but is causing a lot of concern because that school hasn't been built yet. And there are concerns that the inclusive nature of the library, such as the GSA, couldn't continue at the school.
00:02:22
Speaker
um So that that is it in a nutshell. I do highly recommend if you have the time to go watch the excellent 40 minute long documentary, The Shadow War on Libraries that the Fifth Estate did. um The Fifth Estate came out, they spoke with me, they spoke with all the major players, um but the town council refused to speak to them.
00:02:38
Speaker
So they and so did the alt-right figures we're going to talk about in a minute who have been um pretty influential in intimidating people out of their support of the library. So it's not a complete story, but it is a really great background for what's happening in Valley View and i highly recommend you watch it.
00:02:55
Speaker
The problem with Valley View, of course, is it's a small northern Alberta town. There is no media there anymore, necessarily. There is no ah weekly paper. The Valley Views has been defunct for a couple of years.
00:03:05
Speaker
So there's no staff reporter in Valley View. I have worked for South Peace News and the Smoky River Express out of High Prairie, which did some coverage of Valley View. but there's not consistent media coverage.
00:03:16
Speaker
So getting the Fifth Estate out, getting any kind of coverage that we can get, it has been the main goal because I think this is a sort of canary in the coal mine situation for what's happening across the province and across the country and to a large extent across North America right now.
Harassment and Intimidation Tactics
00:03:33
Speaker
You mentioned some some harassing or intimidating behavior by far-right figures, and that's kind of how you got into this story, right? ah Yeah, this is what got it on my radar is um I'm on X and Blue Skies, DCU, Van Halberta, and I cover a lot of Convoyers.
00:03:48
Speaker
I've been following Convoyers since um I saw Bob Leon in my hometown in Peace River up here. become completely anti-vaxxed and anti-mask and start recruiting people and joining these groups um and then eventually heading on with the convoy.
00:04:01
Speaker
So I've been watching Convoyers and far-right groups like Diagalon. um Rachel Gilmore also does a great job of covering them. ah So I was writing some content for a progressive group in Grand Prairie.
00:04:14
Speaker
who was doing a defense of the Grand Prairie Library. Because the first place that we saw this kind of attack up here in in northern Alberta was at the Grand Prairie Library. um Your listeners may be familiar ah from a video of Elliot Moose McDavid, a convoyer um who ah harassed our previous Deputy Prime Minister, Christian Freeland, at the Grand Prairie Town Hall.
00:04:36
Speaker
And he didn't stop there. He had a group of supporters um who would stand around on the corner protesting every weekend. They called it Freedom Corner. They got really into this whole save the children narrative and started um confronting people at the Grand Prairie Library.
00:04:51
Speaker
So there was a group that was doing a defense of the Grand Prairie Library after Elliot McDavid and Franz came and intimidated people at a drag story time there. I found out after the fact that the group that counter-protested had one of their members get doxed.
00:05:05
Speaker
um The group and myself found this out from another reporter in Grand Prairie, and it turned out that a photographer who I didn't know about at the time named TJ Kennedy had taken photos of the protest and had found this person's email and put it out to all of his Diagalon and Alt-Right buddies on X and other places like Telegram to harass this person.
00:05:26
Speaker
So that was my first intro to TJ Kennedy, a photographer who used a photo that he took of a counter protest to protect the library in Grand Prairie to try to dox someone.
Political Connections and Controversies
00:05:36
Speaker
But not just a photographer is my understanding. No. What's TJ's day job?
00:05:41
Speaker
Well, TJ's, I found out after I started looking into this guy, after this doxing, ah that he was actually the constituency assistant to MLA and minister now, Todd Lowen, for about two years.
00:05:53
Speaker
um So when this was happening, he was the constituency assistant. um I happen to live in that constituency as well. It's my constituency. Todd Lowen is my MLA. So that really gave me pause because, um,
00:06:05
Speaker
If you look, I mean, obviously, once I found out he's doxing people, I took a look at his ex, his telegram, he was openly posting white nationalist sentiment, obvious ethnocentrism, obvious white pride stuff, reposting and proudly stating he was a member of Diagon and Jeremy McKenzie.
00:06:21
Speaker
was the man who told him to find your find your friends, find your tribe. which And so he was inspired by Jeremy McKenzie, the leader of Diagon, to move to Alberta. He went to the Coutts protest.
00:06:32
Speaker
And after the Coutts protest, I guess he got recruited by UCP VP of Comm Samantha Stanky to move to Valley View and come work for Todd Lewin. So he was Todd's official photographer for a while.
00:06:43
Speaker
And on his campaign to be leader of the party, if you remember that, he did try to run against Daniel Smith at one point to run the province. So imagine if that had happened. ah But then he became the constituency assistant. So while constituency assistant for Todd Lowen, he was sending me emailed threats and a letter threatening me with a lawsuit for defamation under his title as constituency assistant.
00:07:07
Speaker
So that gave me massive pause because to me, um that's a massive security risk. You have a member of an alt-right accelerationist group who, despite the fact they claim their joke, is a hate group, um being able to be vetted to work for the UCB government.
00:07:22
Speaker
I gotta say that as bad as Danielle Smith has turned out, I am kind of glad that Todd didn't work. I don't think I could tolerate being governed by a guy with a bowl cut. I mean, yeah, we, we've, there have been many a joke about how he looks like the guy in Dumb and Dumber. He, he absolutely looked like when Christmas for while there. So it hasn't helped his rep, but I mean, this is far more concerning than how the guy's hair is right. This is, and, uh, you know, all these other various issues like wildlife hunting and things like that.
00:07:49
Speaker
Um, This he essentially hired a member of Diagon to be his personal sort of minion. He would he has gone to people's houses with TJ in tow. um He's brought him around with him. TJ no longer has that job. But I once I found out TJ was doxing people and his affiliations.
00:08:06
Speaker
Obviously, I kept my eye on him. The next thing I heard about him doing was trying to join the board of the Valley View Library. And that board has since become the subject of a huge amount of controversy in Valley View um because the board has been, people feel, stacked with new members by town council who are willing to defund and move the library, members who share their ideology, including Nathan Stanky, who's now the quote unquote record keeper, who is Samantha Stanky, a town councillor and VP of comms for you the UCP, that's her husband.
00:08:39
Speaker
So, you know, it's... ah Yeah, um it feels- And this is a project that we've seen quite quite a few variations on in recent years, right?
00:08:51
Speaker
Like Jeremy, I recall some coverage you did last January on some leaked audio that you got from TBA in which they were encouraging a lot of their members to go and contest these lower level municipal governments. Oh yes, the tyranny of the Rainbow Guard.
00:09:10
Speaker
Exactly. Everything that's normal must be queer. Some great quotes from David Parker in that. And and by great quotes, I mean quotes that are revealing of his worldview.
00:09:28
Speaker
Okay, well, we've got this we've established this who this T.J. Kennedy figure is. So he arrives in Valley View. they they They give him this position on the library board.
00:09:40
Speaker
They did not. He tried to go for it. He didn't get the position, but fortunately, but it hasn't seemed to matter. So... um Yeah. And I should say, too, that David Parker was interviewed by the Fifth Estate on these views and on this plan, this political plan to take over low level boards and, you know, to remove this kind of threat to children.
00:10:01
Speaker
T.J. Kennedy had posted multiple times to his um to his ex and his social media, which Fifth Estate did cover, um so saying that he was encouraging people to take out.
00:10:11
Speaker
books that he didn't approve of from the library that were inclusive books about gay and trans issues and stuff and keep them out of libraries so kids couldn't see them. um He celebrated when Travis Workland's business went under and called him a groomer because Travis is a big part of pride, a supporter of the library and, you know, an openly gay man.
00:10:29
Speaker
So he was making his views known publicly and essentially what people felt was attacking the library. But at this point, aside from having been the constituency assistant, he didn't really have the power.
Questioning Motives Behind Defunding
00:10:43
Speaker
What happened...
00:10:44
Speaker
And there is a very long timeline for all this, so i'm not going to go into all the details, but what essentially happened is the library was defunded by 52%. This raised an alarm with everybody wondering why. um The town's biggest response to this has been, oh, we haven't raised your taxes in 15 years and we don't want to raise your taxes now.
00:11:01
Speaker
But the funding for the library has never been a problem before. And people really feel it's because of the influence of TBA and the UCP that has made this a culture war that the library is being defunded because they were an inclusive space and they had this GSA.
00:11:15
Speaker
people on the board of the library were opposed to defunding and moving the library. Those people have found themselves demoted or removed from the board. And the town council has put in other people who they say it's because those people served really long terms and they just needed to give up their time because they'd been in there for years.
00:11:32
Speaker
Everybody else feels that they put in board members who would do what they wanted, which is define and move the library without complaining about it. um The strongest advocate that remained on the board for the library, Kelly Reimer, resigned after the last meeting.
Public Outrage and Police Involvement
00:11:47
Speaker
That's wild. Susan, can you give our listeners a kind of an an overview of like, who are the the villains overall in this story? You've introduced this TJ Kennedy person. I hear a mention of ah of a family of the Stankys and Todd Lowen is involved.
00:12:02
Speaker
So who's the whole cast of characters on the bad side here? Well, we've got, i mean, and don't get me any defamation here. I'm not saying they're villains. I'm just saying they're maybe the antagonists.
00:12:14
Speaker
But so yeah, ah there the mayor of the town, Werm Limburner, people feel is either oblivious or just taking his cues from Samantha Steinke.
00:12:25
Speaker
Samantha Stanky is the UCP VP of comms who is a town councillor. um She also appears to be in some sort of conflict of interest, which people have been repeatedly asking about and being rebuffed because she was hired to fundraise for the school that they plan to build and move the library to.
00:12:42
Speaker
So she was given from what I can confirm from her, the best I can confirm from her was a six month contract full time to fundraise for the school. I have been told by other sources that she may have been paid 10% of everything she fundraised, which could be something like a million dollars.
00:12:57
Speaker
I've not been able to confirm that. The best she'll tell me is that she'll show me her t four which obviously she has not done. So Samantha Stanky, town councillor, gets a contract to fundraise for this new school.
00:13:09
Speaker
Her father-in-law is the board chair of the school board that's building the new school, Jerry Stanky. And her husband was just recently given this position as record keeper on the library board, running the library, and essentially keeping them to Robert's rules of order and telling the board chair what to do.
00:13:29
Speaker
The board chair of the library board is Tina Caron. And Tina has become, ah well, everyone's calling her an actual Caron because at the last library board meeting, she called the police to remove everybody once the trans teenager tried to ask a question.
00:13:45
Speaker
Which- has She called the cops on them for for speaking? Can you- Yes. Like what happened? Sorry, what what happened? what They called the cops? Yes. And so I have a viral for me, a TikTok video of this that has over 800,000 views.
00:13:59
Speaker
So the library board had been meeting for three hours, finally decided to pass a motion to allow members of the public to ask questions. They had everybody raise their hands. Ten people raised their hands, including Theo. They passed a motion that every one of those people could have five minutes to speak.
00:14:14
Speaker
um And everybody asked questions. But when Theo stood up to ask questions, we all realized that the board, I was there. We all realized the board chair was calling somebody and then you could hear 911.
00:14:25
Speaker
nine one one So she called police and had police come and remove 40 people from the library because I guess she didn't like the questions being asked. That's certainly how it looked at the time.
00:14:36
Speaker
Now, they've since put out a statement. She's put ah a pretty extensive statement out. She claims that everybody in there was being rowdy and unruly and abusive and threatening and ah profane was even a word she used and that it was abusive and she couldn't stand for that. They also claim that the town councillor on the board, Ken Wittig, was threatened. i have reviewed all of the video of this and I think that's all gaslighting myself. I think that she was asked questions she didn't want to answer.
00:15:02
Speaker
And as soon as the trans teen stood up, that's when she felt threatened and called the cops. You mentioned that name a couple of times. Theo, it sounds like one of the the heroes in this story as opposed to the villains.
00:15:14
Speaker
I would say Theo has emerged as a massive hero for people around the world at this point. Theo spoke to the Fifth Estate. Theo is the one who's been running the GSA or the library.
00:15:24
Speaker
um Theo is the one who originally raised alarm that she and her friends do not feel safe moving to the school and they want to stay at the library, but they're being made to feel unsafe even at the library.
00:15:35
Speaker
And Theo then is the one who stood up and tried to hold Tina Karen accountable and Nathan Steinke. And that was who Tina called the cops on. So it really appeared to everyone in the room and to everyone who's watched it that Theo was articulate, calm, a young leader, a clear young future leader, um just trying to hold her library board accountable.
00:15:57
Speaker
And for that was um shut down by police. A little context for the listeners, if you're unfamiliar with that term, GSA, that's an acron an acronym for a Gay Straight Alliance.
00:16:08
Speaker
They are social clubs basically for queer kids. They get put together in places where those kids don't feel very safe and they need a safe third space to hang out.
00:16:21
Speaker
It's been a real hot button issue in the province for over a decade. And I think you could argue that a really bad, poorly written bill around GSAs is one of the things that eventually brought the PCs down and ushered in the the new Democrats.
00:16:38
Speaker
it's It's kind of surprising, actually, to hear that war is still raging on this issue since it's been going on for so long. But the Kennedy administration and the Smith administration both taken their potshots at GSAs.
00:16:51
Speaker
Absolutely. And I mean, really, what we're talking about is just a group of kids hanging out in the library community room. This is a public community library. um I have sat in that library all afternoon and watched groups of seniors come in and do their taxes and a missionary group come in and meet about their beliefs. It's an it's an open, inclusive third space.
00:17:09
Speaker
So this is just one of the things that's happening there. But this seems to have become like this hot button um that has been specifically attacked. by T.J. Kennedy and and people who share his iology ideology in Valley View.
00:17:25
Speaker
Wild stuff. ah We've got another board meeting coming up tonight too, is my understanding. You don't expect that to be any less chaotic? Well, I certainly didn't expect to see cops called on a board meeting in my lifetime. So that was chaotic and and unbelievable to everybody in the room, including me.
00:17:42
Speaker
um So anything could really happen tonight. ah There was a town hall last week that was a very contentious town hall. ah People packed it. A lot of people tried to ask questions, people left feeling like they were in hurt and cops were present for that entire meeting.
00:17:56
Speaker
So I expect police to be there. But um one thing that I should say I honestly forgot to tell you before, the staff at the library are the ones suffering the most under this. Liz, who spoke to the Fifth Estate, Carrie Danner um and their other staff, Skyler, they expect to possibly have their hours cut or be fired.
00:18:15
Speaker
They're not sure. So they are possibly going to need support in a wrongful or constructive dismissal suit um because this budget cut obviously means possible cuts to staffing and hours. And at the meeting that I was at where the cops were called, they were already discussing possibly pushing the two staff positions into one somehow or cutting hours.
00:18:34
Speaker
So unfortunately, even speaking out and getting all of this attention, the staff are still the ones sort of suffering. um And it's not their choice or decision. People have been calling the library angry at them. They're not the ones trying to defund it or shut it down. They love the library. They want to keep their jobs.
00:18:50
Speaker
And they're expecting tonight, possibly, they were expecting as soon as last time to possibly be fired or have their hours cut. So that's that's the actual harm being done to the library staff right now.
Community Discontent and Courage
00:19:02
Speaker
Now, municipal officials are saying that this massive cut to the library budget, we're talking about more than half its budget, um has nothing to do with its acceptance of queer kids.
00:19:17
Speaker
that They want you to believe that's just a coincidence that this is happening while there's this large mobilization against 2SLGBTQ rights in...
00:19:30
Speaker
um Alberta. um What is the stated reason for slashing the budget? And why isn't it credible? The only thing they will keep repeating over and over is that they haven't raised the town's taxes for 15 years.
00:19:45
Speaker
And the reason that's ringing hollow is because they're not addressing the sense of safety, their lack of safety and human rights protections that people are feeling in town. And because people feel if that's the case, at least ask the public.
00:19:57
Speaker
Nobody ran on cutting the library budget. Nobody, um, had held a public hearing. The public feels that every time there is a chance for the public to speak, they're shut down, throttled, and, you know, have the cops called on them.
00:20:11
Speaker
So they feel like the town council is going ahead with this decision with no consultation or larger support from the public. I will tell you at the last library board meeting, it was clarified that maybe 50 people had been asked in a survey and 30 people had said they were okay with it.
00:20:28
Speaker
So that's the extent of the official formal public feedback they have gotten is a survey of 50 people in a town of 1600. that's pretty good consultation for the ucp i don't even know and i'm not sure it might have been the school board that ran that survey but it was a very small survey so well well well speaking of the ucp you you mentioned that um there were some of these individuals who are involved uh in this like uh uh
00:20:59
Speaker
T.J. Kennedy, um have worked for the local MLA, Todd Lowen. Yes. Nathan Stanky still does. Nathan Stanky, who's now the record keeper on the library board, still does. He is the current constituency assistant.
00:21:13
Speaker
Right. And so what what I'm interested in is you have all these groups, right? You've got Take Back Alberta. You've got Elements of Diagonal. You've got Parents for Choice in Education. They're another big one. Yeah.
00:21:29
Speaker
working to, um, curtail 2SLGBTQ plus rights in Alberta, starting on a local level.
00:21:40
Speaker
And I'm wondering what the, um,
00:21:47
Speaker
their, um, The dynamic is with regards to the UCP, which is in power. um Of course, the UCP have made it easier, or at least it remains to be seen if they have made it easier, but are trying to make it easier for you know their local allies to win in municipal elections.
00:22:09
Speaker
um They've also passed the most draconian anti-trans legislation in the province. um And I'm wondering how, um from your view on the ground, the UCP interacts with these more... um um
00:22:33
Speaker
Like, on the ground...
Political Influence and Far-Right Support
00:22:35
Speaker
um more grassroots culture warriors. They're extra parliamentary auxiliaries, if you will.
00:22:45
Speaker
I mean, i'll I'll try. I'm not sure. is that is it Is it just that, that they're sort of doing the UCP's bidding on the ground? yeah Is the UCP just responding to ah what they see as the demands of people within their party? Like, what's what's the dynamic I certainly do think they're responding to the demands of Take Back Alberta. ah David Parker from Take Back Alberta has explicitly praised Samantha Steinke for being a leader in their freedom freedom movement.
00:23:13
Speaker
um And she is the VP of UCB comms and she is on the town council in Valley View. So he has ah credited her. with being at the forefront of this movement in the province. Okay, so that's important to know. That's important context.
00:23:25
Speaker
um Just in terms of payment, TJ Kennedy wouldn't have lived in a small town after moving out here from Toronto for a couple years without getting having a regular job. It's a town of 1600. The jobs up here oil field, forestry.
00:23:37
Speaker
He found a home despite his, I would say, ah security risk background of being a member of an accelerationist alt-right group in in the UCP, working for the UCP government. And that was fine with legislative HR. And I know because I complained and they told me it was fine.
00:23:52
Speaker
So, um you know, that and then now Nathan Stanky, is also working for Todd Lowen in what used to be t TJ's place. um Todd Lowen will bring TJ with him to community meetings, to functions where he wasn't really expected to bring him.
00:24:07
Speaker
So to people in town, and certainly to me, it looks like these guys are sort of minions. They're sort of doing this work on the ground that they know is being approved by the larger government. And the larger government has essentially validated their beliefs and and um encouraged them and used them, frankly, as sort of brown shirts, as far as I'm concerned.
00:24:28
Speaker
People from the community who are willing to intimidate others and harass them and threaten them, allegedly, but in my case, I have paperwork. you know, um to get their way, to quell dissent.
00:24:42
Speaker
Now, is that working? I think it's causing more dissent because people are so alarmed by the background of somebody with t like T.J. Kennedy working for the government. They're so alarmed at seeing him still sitting unaccosted at library board meetings, looking like he's dressed like a security guy, while the 17-year-old trans teenager who speaks up is suddenly such a threat she has to be removed by police.
00:25:04
Speaker
It seems like they might have gotten away with it if it wasn't for these dang kids. Exactly. Honestly, it wasn't for these very brave kids who are just wanting to meet with their friends at the library and chat, you know, and and and socialize and build a connection with each other in a small town where that can be very hard if you're any kind of different.
00:25:25
Speaker
You know, living in a small town, I think what people need to understand, I mean, I lived in Calgary and I've lived up here now for about 20 years. In Calgary, if you have an issue with someone, you're not likely to bump into them in the grocery store, right?
00:25:37
Speaker
Here in a small town, if you stick your neck out, if you stand up, everyone will know. And there's going to be people that hate you, that you're going to bump into at the grocery store. It's inevitable. And people that support you too, but it is much more difficult in a small rural town like this.
00:25:53
Speaker
to stand up like say Theo Robertson and has done or Travis Workland has done or even the library staff has done to speak to the Fifth Estate and try to raise this issue and say, hey, we feel like there's a lot.
00:26:05
Speaker
and And they will they'll also tell you the GSA has been sort of the um the focus and and human rights is a big issue right now, but they also feel like there's a lot of shenanigans going on with how the town is running things in general, ah like not posting, you know, not posting video, not allowing people into
Impact of Upcoming Municipal Election
00:26:23
Speaker
meetings. There's a lot of complaints just over how the council is being run.
00:26:27
Speaker
We do not have the UCP parties for municipal politics. That's not going to be happening up here. It's just the major cities, but this is all going to come to a head at the municipal election this fall.
00:26:39
Speaker
because it is the town council that's appointing the board that is making the decisions on the library go through.
00:26:47
Speaker
And it resembles a lot of other stories that are going on around the province, like now and within the past few years. i mean, i remember a while back the the Edmonton Meadowlark Constituency Association getting caught, having meetings with the soldiers of Odin here in the city.
00:27:06
Speaker
Right. A few other far right groups were invited to that meeting as well. Or more proximal, you could look at the conflict in Edmonton that's going on right now with Edmonton Public Library.
00:27:20
Speaker
Yes. apparently management pushed staff to take down pride flags and pride material at some locations. Yeah, and and and I wanted to ask you about that because here in Edmonton, you know, there was a pretty big protest outside of the sort of flagship downtown Edmonton library, the Stanley Milner location.
00:27:44
Speaker
And it seems to me that standing up for 2SLGBTQ plus rights is easier in a bigger city where, um i you know, I think, frankly, most people have family who are queer or old friends. And and so um I think they're more open to standing up for for them when they come under assault.
00:28:12
Speaker
right um from this this this far right movement. um
00:28:20
Speaker
yeah But I wanted to ask you in turn what what what the challenges are of pushing back against this tide in a small town like Valley View or even a small city like Grand Prairie which isn't far from you.
00:28:40
Speaker
Absolutely. And I think in, you know, it took a lot to organize prides up here. They've only there, there haven't been prides, pride events and pride societies up here as long as there have been in the larger cities. um But we do have them.
00:28:53
Speaker
But it wasn't, it didn't feel as dangerous until the rise of this misinformation and rhetoric about all you know trans people being groomers and things like that we just didn't see it it feels like it has taken a very dangerous turn particularly in small rural areas like this over the past couple of years because like i said um you're gonna bump into these guys around town it's it's more difficult to avoid them um if you feel threatened by somebody like uh tj kennedy it's harder to avoid him um It's harder to stay anonymous and
Challenges in Small Town Advocacy
00:29:23
Speaker
return to the crowd. Everybody knows who you are. They probably know where you live.
00:29:26
Speaker
They know where you work. um Keeping a business open can become a challenge. And Travis Workland feels that his cafe has gone out of business because he was boycotted for his support of the library and for diversity at the library.
00:29:37
Speaker
um He's a member of Pride. He's on the Chamber of Commerce and he feels like he couldn't keep and he spoke to the Fifth Estate about this. He feels like he couldn't keep his business open. So getting a job can be a challenge and there are limited jobs to go around. I mean, it can just end opportunities for you if you're seen as, ah you know, somebody that.
00:29:56
Speaker
is ah standing up for this movement. So it it is extremely difficult. And then just the physical danger, I think, is higher. The physical danger is that a guy in a pickup truck will try and follow you home. And I had that happen myself after the last town hall and friends watched him get in a bit a truck and follow me to drive home.
00:30:12
Speaker
And we had to pull off the highway and call 911. Now imagine being 17 in a town like that. You know, I'm an adult with friends keeping an eye on me. I have a recourse. Just think of the courage it takes to be 17 and speaking up when you have um members of an alt-right acceleration group openly supported and hired by the prevailing government that is also putting through legislation to say you're not supposed to exist.
00:30:38
Speaker
It's, it's, yeah yeah, I mean, you can't get a massive pop up processed up here. It's been incredible the support that they have seen. The town hall was packed, there have been, ah you know, 40 people showing up for the library meeting when there was normally four, you know, people are turning up, but it's not a question like Edmonton, where you can just get 1000 people out on a dime.
00:30:57
Speaker
Well, we do have thousands of people who would like to help, I'm sure.
Supporting Affected Library Staff
00:31:01
Speaker
I think probably anyone listening at this point is starting to feel a little bit of sympathy towards Theo. I hope so. yeah yeah How should our listeners help out if they would like to help out?
00:31:13
Speaker
um Don't call the library and yell at the staff. They are trying to survive this and been told not to do anything or say anything. So they're worried about their jobs and they can't say anything to you. And it's not their decision. The library board chair, Tina Karen, has listed her email and I've provided that to you.
00:31:29
Speaker
People can email the library board chair, Tina Karen, who called the cops on the public, let her know that how they feel. They can email the mayor of Valley View because it is ultimately the mayor and town council who make these decisions and and are the ones who defunded the library and are forcing it to move.
00:31:44
Speaker
um And then i should say to the library of staff, if they do get um dismissed or wrongfully dismissed, they may be needing support for legal help.
00:31:56
Speaker
They may need legal fees, because to get a lawyer- Like Yeah, that could well be. It's just they're sort of waiting for the hammer to drop, which could be a sort of a construction ah constructive dismissal of combining their jobs or limiting their hours, or they could just be fired, in which case, I think you'll see them try to raise funds for a wrongful dismissal suit. It's just that hasn't happened yet. So.
00:32:17
Speaker
And certainly keeping the spotlight on the area, because like I said, there's no real small town media. This was sort of being done in darkness and having public scrutiny um is one of the only ways that we're going to keep anybody accountable and also keep the people involved safe if anything happens.
00:32:35
Speaker
The villains in this story are getting a lot of support from the UCP, it sounds like.
Growing Political Engagement
00:32:40
Speaker
What about things in the other direction? Are the Alberta NDP involved in this at all? um They haven't been, but I know Brooks Arkan Paul is meeting with the concerned citizens who are in support of the library this Friday.
00:32:53
Speaker
So, and also with the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. And I should also mention the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has been advocating because there are a lot of historical documents in a gallery in the library and they want to know where that stuff's going to go if this library gets moved and downsized.
00:33:08
Speaker
So there, you know, this is an intersectional issue. We're focusing a lot on the GSA and the trans kids, but there's like a lot of intersectional issues going on here with the local First Nations as well, who also feel like they're not necessarily safe in Valley View anymore.
00:33:21
Speaker
um So, yeah but yeah, so Brooks Arcan polls coming up. I know Janice Irwin said um it would be wonderful too, but schedules just weren't aligning. So it looks, and Court Ellingson grew up in Valley View, so has also been reposting and keeping um some extra eyes on the issue.
Ongoing Monitoring and Reporting
00:33:38
Speaker
It's all grim stuff, dire stuff up there. I don't like the sounds of it. i will be watching with interest tonight the news of the next board meeting, because one is scheduled for just a few hours after we're recording here. Yes.
00:33:56
Speaker
By the time you're listening to this episode, that will have already happened. So we will link in the show notes any coverage that we can find of that, ah probably from Susan, really. ah but Susan, ah drew i'd I'd love to thank you personally for coming on and taking the time to share your work with our listeners, especially since we had to do kind of a trial run of this whole episode because I forgot to press the button the first time.
00:34:19
Speaker
worries. Folks, if you would like to read more of Susan's work, she publishes a lot on Medium. If you look for Susan V. H. Thompson on Medium. She also has...
00:34:31
Speaker
quite a few active social media accounts going. We're going to provide links in the show notes. So I recommend that that you follow Susan because as as she said, there is not a lot of media coverage up in Valley View. The local media has been gutted.
00:34:50
Speaker
CBC is sending some people now and then, but there is a lot of sleazy stuff going on there, it sounds like, and we don't want to miss any of the details. Yes, thank you very much.
00:35:01
Speaker
Thank you again. Thank you very much for your time. Really appreciate having you on the show. I appreciate And I use Medium to break the news because it doesn't, it you can share the link on Facebook and the majority of the local people obviously are on Facebook. So it allows us to get the news out to people who are not on these other platforms.
00:35:18
Speaker
And TikTok, I mean, the video of Theo standing up to the board chair has gone viral with other 800,000 views. And I highly recommend watching it just to see that young woman's bravery. We're going to follow this, keep following this case very closely, folks. So, you know, between us and Susan, you will hear about this as long as you pay attention.
00:35:40
Speaker
Fantastic. All right. Well, thanks everyone for for listening. Tune in to the next episode of the Progress Report very soon. Jeremy, always a pleasure to hang. Likewise, and great meeting you, Susan.
00:35:54
Speaker
You too. Yes, thank you so much ah but to both of you. Like I said, just keeping a spotlight on this is just so critical. So thank you very much. And if I disappear, yeah, I'll be calling you.
00:36:06
Speaker
i guess so call If you call anyone when you're in jail, let be us. Okay. Deal, you better send me the mail.
00:36:17
Speaker
We'll find you a lawyer. Okay, perfect. Send me the number to call. I will literally write it on my arm before I go to town tonight. Okay, thank you both. Have a good night. Or good afternoon.