Calgary entrepreneur and former “Dragons’ Den” star Brett Wilson has offered a $100,000 donation to the University of Lethbridge contingent upon school officials issuing an apology to Frances Widdowson for her arrest and citation for trespassing on the campus last weekend.
Widdowson, a former Mount Royal University professor and free speech advocate, was arrested on April 25 after the school said she violated a legal order prohibiting her from going on campus grounds. She was escorted off the premises and issued a $600 ticket for trespassing after going to the school cafeteria to meet with a student.
Wilson made the donation offer on social media, reacting to a report from the Western Standard that a donor has withdrawn a $150,000 gift to the university over Widdowson’s arrest.
Wilson said on April 30 that the university should “profoundly apologize” to Widdowson and arrange for her to “present/engage in a great setting at this once-great University.”
“You know how to reach out to me — I have pitched there. Happy to introduce her,” added Wilson.
Wilson is a Canadian investment banker, businessman, and investor who appeared on seasons three through five of CBC Television’s “Dragons’ Den.”
Widdowson commented on Wilson’s offer on social media the same day, saying she had plans to talk to Alberta’s minister of advanced education about the incident.
“I am talking to the Minister of Advanced Education Myles McDougall today to discuss this possibility!” she said in an April 30 X post in response to Wilson. “This is the bare minimum for trying to restore free speech at the University of Lethbridge.”
Lethbridge University has not publicly addressed Wilson’s donation offer. In a statement to The Epoch Times, the school said it is committed to freedom of speech as well as a “safe and secure campus.”
“Universities are places where controversial ideas are examined, critiqued and challenged through rigorous, evidence-based inquiry, consistent with our Statement of Free Expression,” a university spokesperson said. “We are equally committed to a safe and secure campus, ensuring ordinary university activities are not disrupted.”
The school also did not make mention of Widdowson in its response.
Widdowson is known for debating students on university campuses in B.C. and Alberta about the existence of a mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. She has noted the 2021 claim by the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation that ground-penetrating radar had found the remains of 215 children at the site continues to be unsubstantiated.
The Epoch Times reached out to Widdowson for comment but did not receive a reply before publication time.
Ian Brodie, a political science professor a the University of Calgary, said while people don’t have to agree with Widdowson, her arrest was not warranted.
“You don’t have to agree with Widdowson. Lots of people don’t. But arresting her on some trespassing charge for having a peaceful meeting is terrible behaviour for an institution,” Brodie said on social media.
Weekend Arrest
The university previously told The Epoch Times a trespass notice has been in place for Widdowson since Feb. 4, after she held an “unscheduled event on campus that was met with significant protest.”
“The University has reasonable grounds to believe that Widdowson’s presence would again result in significant disruption that exceeds the University’s ability to manage it,” the school said in an April 28 statement. “The concern with the ability to safely manage the situation is further challenged by her ongoing social media promotion encouraging and inciting a crowd response on campus.”
Widdowson posted on X last week that the university had sent her a letter stating she was still banned from campus property, but decided to go to the school to meet with the student.
Her arrest was documented on video and shared on social media by multiple sources, including Widdowson herself, who filmed a nearly hour-long montage from the moment she arrived at the campus parking lot until she returned to her vehicle after being released by police after being issued a $600 ticket.
Widdowson has attended several university campuses in British Columbia and Alberta in recent months in an attempt to start a dialogue with students about the mass grave claim.
Widdowson was arrested by the RCMP while attempting to walk around the University of Victoria campus last December wearing a billboard that read “What remains?” She was later released and issued a $115 fine for trespassing.
She was also part of a OneBC event at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver during which she was lifted and carried away by three RCMP officers after she refused to leave the campus. She was subsequently released without charges.
The formerly tenured professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary was fired by the school in 2021 after speaking out against “wokeism” and identity politics on her website and on social media. The school accused her of fostering a “harassing and toxic workplace environment.”
Widdowson, which denies this allegation, challenged the move, filing a grievance against her firing. An arbitrator ruled her dismissal was disproportionate to her conduct, but said it would not be appropriate to reinstate her to her job at the university given the level of conflict between her and others at the school.
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