On June 18, 2026, the legacy of Leroy Little Bear, the Vice-Provost of Iniskim Indigenous Relations and former Chair of the Native American Studies program at the University of Lethbridge, is going to be “celebrated”.
Frances Widdowson has been studying the work of Leroy Little Bear since the 1990s, when she began her doctorate at York University and began her doctoral dissertaion on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. In the Royal Commission’s Report, Leroy Little Bear was the source cited when it was argued that aboriginal people had “science” that was just as “sopisticated” as “western science”. This was due, according to Little Bear, because their language was “verb-oriented”, which helped them to understand quantum physics without mathematics.
In 2023, Frances Widdowson was invited by philosophy professor Paul Viminitz to give a talk on “How ‘Woke-ism’ Threatens Academic Freedom” at the University of Lethbridge. Leroy Little Bear was one of the administrators that worked with faculty members to encourage President Mike Mahon to cancel Widdowson’s room booking. Mahon originally stated, on January 26, 2023, that Widdowson, while her views were “abhorrent”, would have to be allowed to speak because of the free speech policy
In 2026, Leroy Little Bear was involved in the decision, on February 4, 2026, to send out an email warning students and faculty that a “controversial figure” was on campus who had views that were upsetting and disrespectful.
This led students to hunt down Widdowson at the University of Lethbridge and shut down the academic exercise that she had organized with University of Lethbridge professor emeritus Anthony Hall.
After Widdowson and Anthony Hall were assaulted, intimidated, harassed, and had their property stolen and vandalized, Leroy Little Bear stated that the students did a “fantastic job” of neutralizing Widdowson.
This totalitarianism is needed at the University of Lethbridge to create a climate where it becomes impossible to challenge the nonsensical ideas that are being encouraged by Indigenization. Little Bear’s ideas are a case in point.
