On February 3, 2026, Frances Widdowson was invited to attend a talk by University of Lethbridge Professor Emeritus Tony Hall.
Widdowson and Hall also discussed doing a “Spectrum Street Epistemology” session on the claim that “The Residential Schools were genocidal” because Hall had written on this subject in a peer reviewed journal. At this time, Hall had argued that the residential schools were genocidal.
This was a view that was in opposition to Widdowson’s, which she had put forward to some extent in a paper that she presented at the Canadian Political Science Association on the criminalization of “residential school denialism”. Widdowson believed that examining contrasting views on this claim would be academically beneficial for universities.
At 10:06 a.m. on February 4, 2026, Frances Widdowson announced that she would be doing this session at 11:00 a.m. in the Atrium at the University of Lethbridge.
At about 10:55 a.m. Widdowson arrived with her husband and co-author of Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry, Albert Howard. Widdowson started her audio recording at this time. The audio runs for 4 hours and 30 minutes (until about 3:30 p.m.).
Widdowson also began the livestream at about this time.
At 11:01 a.m. the University of Lethbridge sent out an email to all employees and students warning them that a “controversial figure” was on campus, and that “this individual has recently created significant disruptions at other Canadian universities”. The email also asserted that “the views of this individual are upsetting and disrespectul to many members of the university community”. A link was provided to the University of Lethbridge Statement on Free Expression, and it was asserted that “the University expects all community members to engage respectfully and lawfully”.
The University of Lethbridge “Statement on Free Expression” can be seen below.
At about 11:05 a.m. (Time stamp 7:21 of the livestream above), Widdowson found Tony Hall and met a colleague of Hall’s, Dave Garratt. Widdowson, Howard, Garratt, and Hall walked over to a table that Hall had set up with his books and literature. Hall’s wife, Helena, was also sitting at the table.
At about 11:10 a.m., Widdowson began to scope out the Atrium to find a place to do the session (at Time stamp 15:56 of the livestream). She was originally considered doing it in front of the “OKI” sign, as it put forward a number of unsubstantiated claims about the relationship between “the Creator”, sweetgrass, and the land, but eventually decided to do it near the table so as not to be confrontational.
At about 11:15 a.m., a photographer approached Widdowson who wanted to document her Spectrum Street Epistemology session
At about 11:20 a.m. (Time stamp 20:00 in the livestream), a University of Lethbridge student approached Widdowson who wanted to understand Widdowson’s position on the “Residential School Genocide” question, and they began to do a Spectrum Street Epistemology session.
At about 11:40 a.m. the Spectrum Street Epistemology session with the student started. At about 11:50 a.m. loud noises started to be made by students to try to shut down the discussion.
At 12:00 p.m. (timestamp 54:40 of the livestream) the student left so that he could carry on with his studies.
Between 12 noon and 12:10 p.m. Widdowson’s livestream continued, and documented an increasingly hostile crowd.
Shortly after noon, Widdowson showed the crowd the whiteboard “Residential School Genocide?” (at timestamp 56:10).
A few minutes later (timestamp 56:40 of the livestream) a student came close to Widdowson and began shouting in her face. Albert Howard thought the student was going to attack Widdowson and jumped up from the table and moved over to where Widdowson was. Howard stood between Widdowson and the student, and when the student began to harass Howard, a scuffle ensued and Howard pushed the student, which ended up with the student falling on the floor. At this point, a person with the University of Lethbridge’s security detail separated the protesters from Widdowson and Howard.
Meanwhile, Tony Hall was having interactions with a student elsewhere, and the student took Hall’s phone. Hall pursued the student, and another student supporting Hall intervened.
At about 12:10 p.m. Widdowson’s livestream ended. There is audio that is available for another three hours (until approximately 3:30 p.m.). The rest of the coverage has been pieced together from the internet.
from 12:10 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Widdowson continued to have conversations with students and to do media interviews (1:13:16-2:06:12 of the audio).
At about 12:40 p.m., loud percussion instruments from the music department, including a gong, were brought in.
At about 12:50 p.m., a University of Lethbridge student came up to Widdowson and says how glad she is there upholding free speech and shows Widdowson the email sent by the University of Lethbridge.
Widdowson also spoke to a person who identified himself as a member of the Student Union who was wearing an orange shirt and told her he was really happy that students were expressing themselves. Widdowson said that the intent was not expression; it was an attempt to shut things down.
At about 1:10 p.m. the last sentence Widdowson asserts (at 2:06:12 of the audio) is “We cannot let them win”.
At around 1:30 p.m. a supporter of Widdowson’s retrieved her mats from the crowd.
At 1:49 p.m. Widdowson posted a Tweet because of the increasing unruly character of the crowd.
At 1:52 p.m. Widdowson posted another Tweet.
At 2:02 p.m. Widdowson posted a 37 second clip on Facebook.
At 2:32 p.m. Widdowson posted her final Tweet – a reference to George Orwell’s quote that “freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. Once this is granted, all else follows”. The battery in her phone died shortly after this.
The crowd began to get more and more agitated.
The police began to move into a protection mode.
At about 3:00 p.m. the police asked Widdowson if she would like to move the the table, where Tony Hall had placed his literature.
Widdowson sat next to Tony Hall who was sitting on a chair. Both Hall and his wife Helena were now together near the table, alongside Widdowson and Howard.
Shortly after Widdowson arrived at the table, she noticed that Hall was writing things on a sticky note pad. Widdowson took another sticky pad and wrote two things – “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four – George Orwell” and “Bullies Can’t Win”. This enraged the crowd that had formed around the table. People ripped the pad and her sticky notes away from her. They then pulled the table cloth off the table and threw Hall’s books all over the place. Widdowson’s street epistemology mats and her backpack were stolen.
Frances Widdowson’s backpack that was stolen
When Tony Hall stood up to try to retrieve his reading materials, someone took his chair and so he had to sit on the floor. Someone stole Widdowson’s whiteboard and wrote on it that the matter had been decided – that “the residential school is genocide” and that “we have made our stance” and “now get the Fuck out”.
When looking at the materials on the floor, Widdowson found a number of artifacts, which she kept. There was an “Understanding Indigenous Two-Spirit Identities” that a student dropped on her lap, two signs, one with “Fuck Off Frances” on it and the other about debate not including “hate”, and finally, a sign that Widdowson made herself stating “Bullies Can’t Win”.
When Widdowson was sitting on the chair, Albert Howard was pushed into her and then pushed again.
After Howard was pushed, she encouraged him to sit on the chair because she was less likely to be attacked as a woman. When she was standing, two men beat drums right behind her head to the point that she could feel the concussive force on her hair. When she asked the police officer – Joel Odorski – to make the drummers move back, he told her that if she touched them he would charge her with assault.
Widdowson began to show the crowd a sign “Bullies Can’t Win”.
At about 3:30 p.m. on the audio recording, students began to play brass instruments.
This was all intentional, and designed to impair the hearing of Widdowson, Howard, Hall and Helena.
At about 4:15 p.m. Albert Howard was getting increasingly fed up with the loud noise and was trying to get Widdowson to leave. Widdowson asked Hall if he wanted to leave, and he said no. He pointed to the note that Widdowson had written saying “Bullies Can’t Win”. As Widdowson wanted to stay with Hall, it was arranged that Howard would leave with Helena and get a cab home. When Howard and Helena went out the door onto the north patio, they were surrounded by members of the mob. A number of people called Howard a “racist”, surrounded him, and roughed him up. Fortunately, the police intervened to protect him.
After 4:30 p.m.Widdowson was asked to leave. When she refused, she was trespassed and carried out by police. No charges were made, as she was removed “for her own safety”.
While Widdowson was being carried out, Tony Hall was left on his own. This led him to be mobbed by a number of students, roughed up, intimidated, and pushed outside.
That evening, at 7:30 p.m., the administration sent another email to employees and students. This email made no mention of the unlawful conduct of students and said that Campus Safety “implemented measures to support safety and to ensure that all individuals engaged lawfully while sharing their views through multiple means of expression”. It also stated that “we recognize that today’s events may have been distressing for members of our community, particularly Indigenous students, faculty, and staff. Supports are available, and we encourage anyone who has been affected to reach out for assistance”.
The next day:
On February 7, student Breanna Wood accused Widdowson (without evidence) of having “the express intent of causing a scene to post to her followers on social media”.
On February 10, 2026, Tony Hall published his account of what transpired.
The next week, the University of Lethbridge president, Digvir Jayas (indigenous name: Fast Buffalo), and Vice-Provost Iniskim and Indigenous Relations Leroy Little Bear sent out a letter inviting the indigenous community and the university community to a “Sweetgrass Over Coals Ceremony”. In this letter, they accused Widdowson of “express[ing] views on social media that do not align with those of Iniskim” and of “creat[ing] similar disruptions at other Canadian universities”. They also asserted that she had “occupied public space on campus in an attempt to advance and gain publicity for those views”. The ceremony was being held “to dissipate the negative atmosphere brought by this individual to our community”.
This ceremony was held, and it was claim that this was a “healing ceremony for those negatively affected by the Francis [sic] Widdowson visit”.
After the ceremony, Leroy Little Bear, the Vice-Provost, Iniskim Indigenous Relations stated that “The students did a fantastic job of neutralizing [Frances Widdowson]. It is something that we as an institution have to kind of rethink how to handle these kind of situations”.
If Widdowson had known about it, she would have attended, as the notice said “everyone is welcome”.
The same date as the sweetgrass ceremony, Jill Skriver wrote to the Lethbridge Herald expressing concern about Widdowson being shut down at the University of Lethbridge.
The emerging totalitarianism at the University of Lethbridge requires a response. For, as Supernanny Franny says, “Bullies Can’t Win”.
