Women’s Rights Event Secures New BC Venue After Being Cancelled

Security surrounds the stage as writer Meghan Murphy, centre, speaks during a panel discussion on gender identity in Vancouver, Nov. 2, 2019. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

After having an event on women’s rights cancelled by one community centre in Cowichan, B.C., author and organizer Meghan Murphy has announced the event is back on in a new location.

“We will not be cancelled,” Ms. Murphy said in a social media update on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 3.

“The Cowichan Community Centre was harassed into cancelling our scheduled event tomorrow night but we won’t be deterred! Please join us in Parksville, BC to have the conversation so many want to silence.”

The event, “Inclusivity, Gender Identity, and Women’s Rights”—included a panel of three female speakers discussing the issues including Ms. Murphy, Bryony Dixon, who has spoken publicly against hormone blockers for children, and Serena “Freedombear” Winterburn, a Cree woman who ran as a school board trustee in 2022. Ms. Winterburn ran on a platform in opposition to gender identity and critical race theory being taught in schools.

The event will still take place on the evening of Oct. 4 as planned, but this time at Parksville Community Centre. Tickets are sold by donation at a sliding scale at the door.

“One of our organizers was able to find another venue in Parksville, B.C., though that is a couple hours away from where we'd originally planned for the event to happen,” Ms. Murphy told The Epoch Times on Oct. 4.

Cancelled

On Oct. 2, Ms. Murphy posted a letter from Cowichan Community Centre, which preemptively cancelled the event, citing the BC Human Rights Code. The letter was written by the Cowichan Community Centre’s administrative and facility booking coordinator Maaike McCooey.

“Given the likelihood that the purpose of this event is to promote, or would have the effect of promoting discrimination, contempt or hatred for any group or person on the basis of sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor, it is determined this rental must be cancelled,” wrote the coordinator.

Ms. McCooey did not return requests for comment by The Epoch Times by publication time.

Based on social media posts, it appears a local activist took issue with the event, suggesting it was an “anti-trans presentation” that would support “harmful rhetoric.” The activist posted the emails of the community centre administrators and encouraged others to try and shut down the presentation.

Discussion

The planned event was the second of its kind, with the first held on Oct. 1 in Ladysmith, B.C., and sold out. Ms. Murphy said due to high demand they added the second event on Vancouver Island in the Cowichan Valley.

Ms. Murphy said that the Cowichan Community Centre in Duncan, B.C., had accepted their booking and started to promote the event and sell tickets. She said in an update on her website the accusations against the event were “provably untrue” and “baseless.”

“In truth, the Cowichan Community Centre is engaging in discrimination themselves—against women who wish to speak about and advocate for their rights and safety, to discuss the ways in which gender identity ideology and legislation marginalizes women and girls, and to discuss the ways in which this modern version of ‘inclusivity’ actually silences and excludes Canadians from having conversations about policies and laws that affect them and their families,” said Ms. Murphy.

She said the response from the Cowichan Community Centre may qualify as libellous, and that her group is considering legal action as there were “zero grounds for cancellation.”

Women “have the right to speak about their own rights, safety, and realities in Canada,” she said, adding that the B.C. Human Rights Code “does not prohibit conversations about gender identity, women’s rights, and inclusivity.”

“Canadians have the right to speak openly and publicly about issues and legislation that concern them and their families. Disagreeing with gender identity ideology and defending women’s rights and the safety of kids is not hateful,” she said.

“Needless to say, we will not be silenced.”