Candidates for Vancouver Municipal Party Say They Attended Multiple Events with Conspiratorial Far-Right Groups By Accident

A Vancouver municipal party running two candidates in an upcoming by-election for Vancouver city council say their appearance at multiple events organized by conspiratorial far-right groups over the span of two years was just an accident.

TEAM for a Livable Vancouver, a municipal party that splintered off from the now-defunct right-wing Non-Partisan Association (NPA), is running two candidates in the upcoming by-election – Colleen Hardwick and Theodore Abbott.

Hardwick, who previously served on Vancouver city council from 2018-2022, established TEAM in 2021 and served as the party’s mayoral candidate in 2022.

In October 2022, Hardwick and some TEAM candidates appeared at a far-right community space called “Freedom House” to solicit votes from Freedom Convoy affiliated voters. The event was promoted on the social media app Telegram as an opportunity to meet TEAM’s slate of candidates and suggested a need to “sue Dr. Bonnie Henry.”

Rick Thomas (Telegram)

“Freedom House,” is a far-right community event space run by a pair of local anti-vaccine activists. The organizers behind Freedom House, Rick Thomas and Maria Bose, boast that they have been “part of the Freedom Movement from day one,” organizing a number of events since 2020 related to the anti-mask and anti-vaccine movement, protesting SOGI-123, hosting an event with far-right influencer Chris Sky and more.

But in a statement to PressProgress, the Vancouver municipal party insisted their appearance at the event was a complete accident.

“A small number of TEAM candidates attended an event at the invitation of someone who said they were a TEAM supporter, with no indication of any of their affiliations to any specific group or groups,” a TEAM spokesperson told PressProgress. “After determining that their views were not compatible with TEAM, there were no further events.”

“To be clear, TEAM for a Livable Vancouver does not and has never supported, had ties to or knowingly even met with ‘right-wing, convoy-affiliated venues and figures’ – to suggest otherwise is unfair, intended to damage TEAM’s reputation during a by-election and is defamatory.”

Theodore Abbott, the other candidate running for TEAM during the upcoming by-election attended a separate event two years later in 2024 organized by a far-right group called BC Rising, though Abbott claims this too was an accident.

“I went to the town hall to support my grandma who was speaking at the event,” Abbott told PressProgress. “I have zero ties with any convoy-affiliated groups and any suggestion otherwise is simply a misrepresentation of the truth.”

Although Abbott says he doesn’t “know what BC Rising is,” he concedes that there were “some odd ducks” at the event.

Abbott denies TEAM endorses BC Rising’s views and disputes the idea he is personally right-wing, describing himself as a “fierce political and social activist” instead.

“It is way off base to describe me or or even TEAM for that matter as right-wing,” Abbott insisted, adding that he considers TEAM to be a “big tent party.”

The event hosted by BC Rising took place in May 2024, centering on various provincial laws on housing and health, including regulating the health profession for public health reasons and 15 minute cities. Panelists touted conspiracies around the government’s overreach in regards to both issues, including COVID-19 health measures.

A screenshot from the panel

BC Rising has also organized around issues like anti-COVID-19 measures, globalist conspiracy theories, conspiracies around UNDRIP, and supporting those involved in the Coutts blockade in Alberta, or the organizers of the convoy.

At the BC Rising event, Brian Palmquist, a Vancouver-based architect spoke about housing as a panelist and said he was attending the event as a representative for TEAM.

Other panelists included a Vancouver-based doctor who lost his job at Vancouver General Hospital for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, a former lawyer who believes British Columbia’s vaccine mandates violated employees human rights, a former news director who claims the media was peddling fake news about COVID-19, and a lawyer who defended churches in BC for staying open during the pandemic.

During a Q&A, Abbott asked the panelists a question about the various provincial acts being discussed at the town hall relating to public health being controlled by tyrants.

In a clip from the town hall, Abbott inquires about the presence of “unelected bureaucrats,” who he believes are present at the municipal level, and whether or not they will also be involved at the provincial level as part of a “tyrannical power grab.”

Responding to Abbott’s question, the panelist replied with comments regarding Dr. Bonnie Henry and insinuating pharmaceutical companies are controlling public health decisions by claiming that the biggest donor to the BC Centre for Disease Control is Pfizer.

The same panelist also stated that public health laws, if passed, could create ‘a totalitarian medical and scientific police state that will be beyond the control of local and national governments.’

Panelists at the event also floated conspiracies about the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people and First Nations land title, describing it as an “agenda.”

Hardwick has previously also made public statements about how she believes reconciliation is about “land and money.”

“My question is: when are we reconciled? How much is about atoning? And what are the implications in terms of land and money? Land and money is really what it boils down to,” Hardwick said.

The by-election will be held on April 5.

Clarification: Although TEAM confirmed that a number of its candidates attended the 2022 Freedom House event and promotional materials for the event feature photos of TEAM’s slate of candidates, former 2022 TEAM candidate Bill Tieleman clarifies he “did not attend this event.”

Tieleman, who also served as the party’s campaign manager in 2022, also disavows the group’s beliefs, describing himself as a “strong and public supporter of COVID-19 vaccinations, vaccine mandates” and also as a “public opponent of the so-called ‘freedom truckers convoy’.”