This past weekend, Ben Mulroney went live on air with an unnamed “source” to call Dogwood a “brazen and terrifying” organization.
Mulroney and his show are part of a wave of right-wing agitators using disinformation to whip up fears about Indigenous rights threatening folks’ way of life and property.
Mulroney called out Dogwood’s mission to help decolonize B.C. because, in his words, we’re effective. And with just eight weeks left until province-wide municipal elections, he and his audience are scared of what will happen when we help our neighbours use the tools of our democracy.
Mulroney said "the advocacy group in B.C. that is the best at this, the top of the top, they're called Dogwood."
But they don’t mean to pump us up.
Conservative operators like Caroline Elliott and Dallas Brodie understand that fear is a great motivator, and are gaining massive political ground by posting and amplifying a relentless deluge of content about the “threat” of environmentalism and reconciliation.
That’s why they’re reminding their viewers that “some of the biggest environmental stories of the past decade, the oil tanker ban, Northern Gateway – Dogwood … influenced them.”
Kerry-Lynne Findlay is hoping to ride this panic into a Conservative premiership. Online agitators like Ben Mulroney – who personally organized several partisan campaign events for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives – seem happy to help.
Accusing groups like Dogwood of the crime of door-knocking and talking to our neighbours sounds like a joke. But because they don't like what we do, they're weaponizing our effectiveness to seed doubt and suspicion in the work we do.
“People do not realize how big this particular group is, but also just the entire sector [of] environmental advocacy … it's enormous and they're effective.”
We’re doing some of that big, bad, scary community organizing right now, in the lead up to the 2026 B.C. municipal elections. Our mission is to triple voter engagement this fall, because only 1 in 3 B.C. residents voted in the last municipal elections.
If we can triple voter turnout in this October’s election, we can triple our power to elect candidates that steer clear of fearmongering about property rights and instead offer ideas for collaboration with First Nations to address social challenges, and build a sustainable local economy.
If you can, help us reach people in every municipality in B.C. with the message of a better future for all by chipping in with a donation. Keep our people-powered movement thriving and Ben Mulroney scared.
