Calls for a B.C. MLA to resign or be recalled are growing. What does that mean?

British Columbia·CBC ExplainsAn online petition calling for Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie to resign launched in March. In early November, the First Nations Leadership Council called for Brodie’s immediate resignation. Last week, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc kúkpi7 (chief) Rosanne Casimir joined the list of people calling for Brodie to leave her position. And on Thursday, Premier David Eby said he supports efforts to have Brodie recalled. Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie under fire for comments around residential schoolsCourtney Dickson · CBC News · Posted: Nov 25, 2025 10:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Calls are growing for Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie to resign or be recalled following comments about residential schools. (Katie DeRosa/CBC)It started nine months ago. In February, Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie — part of the B.C. Conservative Party at the time — voiced her thoughts on findings at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School on social media and on a podcast, much to the dismay of Conservative Leader John Rustad. Shortly thereafter, Brodie was booted from the B.C. Conservative Party. In June, she and two other former Conservative MLAs formed a new political party, called OneBC.WATCH | Dallas Brodie removed from Tory caucus:MLA’s podcast comments get her removed from B.C. Conservative caucus Dallas Brodie was removed from the B.C. Conservative caucus after she appeared in a video podcast and made comments party Leader John Rustad characterized as “mocking” the testimony of residential school survivors who suffered abuse. Under the Indigenous section of the party’s priorities on its website, OneBC says it wants to “defund the reconciliation industry.” It also wants street names to be in English, to end land acknowledgements and to remove Truth and Reconciliation Day, observed annually on Sept. 30, as a provincial holiday. Now, calls for the OneBC leader and MLA to resign are growing. An online petition calling on Brodie to resign launched in March. It has since garnered about 1,800 signatures. In early November, the First Nations Leadership Council called for Brodie’s immediate resignation. Last week, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc kúkpi7 (chief) Rosanne Casimir joined the calls for Brodie to resign.WATCH | People in Vancouver-Quilchena riding react to Brodie’s ousting:People in Vancouver-Quilchena riding sound off about MLA Dallas BrodieResidents of the Vancouver-Quilchena riding told CBC News how they felt about MLA Dallas Brodie being kicked out of the B.C. Conservative Party, with many agreeing with Leader John Rustad’s decision to remove Brodie from the caucus for comments she made about residential schools.Now, some are calling for Brodie to be recalled — including Premier David Eby. Responding to Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA and fellow OneBC member Tara Armstrong during question period on Nov. 20, the premier said he supports recalling her and Brodie.“I fully support any effort to recall these members, because there is not a chance that the people who voted for them had any idea about the agenda they’d be advancing in this house,” Eby said. What does recalling mean? And how does it work? WATCH | OneBC bill on land acknowledgments fails:OneBC bill to ban land acknowledgements voted downB.C. MLAs have overwhelmingly voted down a proposal that would ban publicly funded-workers, like teachers, from making land acknowledgements. As Katie DeRosa tells us, the bill was introduced by OneBC, a new political party made up of two former B.C. Conservatives.RecallAccording to Elections B.C., a recall is the removal of a provincial MLA from office between elections. The process begins when a registered voter applies for a petition and collects signatures from other registered voters in their electoral area. They have to get 40 per cent of registered voters in the area to sign the petition. There can only be one recall petition against an MLA at a time. ApplicationWhen someone decides they want their MLA recalled, they must first apply for a recall petition. The application form that includes things like name, home address and contact information. The proponent also has to include a 200-word statement stating why they think the MLA should be removed. The application also requires a $50 non-refundable fee. Recall petitions can’t be launched any sooner than 18 months after an election. After the 2024 election, Elections B.C. says recall petition applications will be accepted starting April 20, 2026. CanvassingThe proponent and anyone else who wants to canvass for signatures has to register with Elections B.C. to be a canvasser, as well. Canvassers have to be registered voters, but they don’t necessarily have to be registered in that particular riding. VerificationOnce signatures are collected, the petition is submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer by mail, courier or in-person. The officer has 42 days to verify the petition, including determining whether there are enough signatures, ensuring people who signed the petition were eligible to do so and contacting some of the signatories to confirm they signed. Both the proponent and the MLA are allowed to have two observers there during verification to ensure transparency. An Elections B.C. ballot box cover is pictured at Guildford Park Secondary school near Argyll Lodge in Surrey earlier this year. (Ben Nelms/CBC)What happens if an MLA is recalled? If the petition goes through, the MLA seat for that riding becomes vacant, triggering a byelection. Even if an MLA is successfully recalled, that doesn’t mean they’re barred from running in elections. They could run as soon as the next election. Has anyone ever been recalled? No. Since 1995, when the Recall and Initiative Act was brought into effect in B.C., no MLA has successfully been recalled.Thirty petitions have been approved, and six were returned to Elections B.C. for verification. Five didn’t have enough valid signatures, while the sixth didn’t go through because the MLA resigned. ABOUT THE AUTHORCourtney Dickson is an award-winning journalist with CBC News based in Vancouver, B.C.With files from Edzi’u Loverin and Katie DeRosa