Brett Wilson offers $100K to UVic for a “simple apology” to Frances Widdowson
A well-known Canadian investment banker, businessman, and philanthropist is offering $100,000 to the University of Victoria if it issues “a simple apology” to Frances Widdowson.
A well-known Canadian investment banker, businessman, and philanthropist is offering $100,000 to the University of Victoria if it issues “a simple apology” to former Mount Royal University professor Frances Widdowson.
Brett Wilson made the offer of a donation via an X post on Wednesday, saying he will donate the six-figure sum if the University of Victoria offers a public apology for its treatment of Widdowson.
Widdowson was escorted off the UVic campus the day earlier and issued a trespass notice after attempting to hold what the school calls an “unsanctioned event,” which would have involved her, OneBC leader Dallas Brodie, and former high school teacher Jim McMurtry discussing the widely disputed and still unproven claims about “unmarked graves” at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.
Following the trespass order and a brief interaction with students and faculty, videos posted to social media showed Widdowson being arrested and taken to the Saanich Police Department, where she was detained for a short period before being released. She was also fined $115.
“Wondering if @uvic will respond or block me or care?” Brett Wilson wrote in a Wednesday post on X. Wilson said he would donate “$100,000” to the university if it would “simply apologize and allow for honest and open debate.”
OneBC leader Dallas Brodie, who accompanied Widdowson to campus to speak with students, has since called on the provincial government to “defund UVic” and has launched a petition for supporters.
As part of her rationale, Brodie pointed to several physical confrontations she says were witnessed by bystanders and recorded on video, alleging that police “refused to arrest” the individual involved.
Tim Thielmann, chief of staff for OneBC—who was seen in videos being struck by what appeared to be a smoke bomb—also urged UVic on X to consider Wilson’s offer.
“Will UVic repent for $100K? They should,” he wrote. “They’re gonna lose 100x that much if they continue arresting professors and inciting political violence.”
In a letter written ahead of Widdowson’s brief and then hasty departure from the school’s campus, UVic said it could not accommodate the “event” because Widdowson and others had not followed the proper booking protocols.