---
title: "UBCIC calls for BC Conservatives to remove Powell River candidate over residential school denialism"
description: "The Union of BC Indian Chiefs called on October 13 for the removal of John Henderson, the BC Conservative candidate in Powell River-Sunshine Coast, over his promotion of a book that denies and minimizes residential school survivor experiences."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/bc/provincial-2026/news/ubcic-calls-for-removal-of-henderson-bc-conservatives-2026"
last_updated: "2026-10-17T18:42:35.610Z"
---

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs called on the BC Conservative Party on October 13, 2026, to remove [John Henderson](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/john-henderson), its candidate for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, over his promotion of a book that the UBCIC says minimizes and denies the experiences of residential school survivors. The Indo-Canadian Voice reported the call the same day. No response from Henderson or from the BC Conservative Party was included in the article or found separately.

## What the UBCIC says Henderson did

The UBCIC states that while Henderson served as Mayor of Sechelt, he promoted a book called "Grave Error: How The Media Misled Us," which the UBCIC describes as a collection of essays that minimize and deny residential school survivor experiences. The UBCIC's characterization is its own; the article does not quote Henderson's explanation of his promotion of the book.

Following Henderson's promotion of the book, the UBCIC reports that Sechelt's city council passed a motion rejecting residential school denialism. At a later council meeting, the UBCIC says councillors wore orange shirts in solidarity with residential school survivors. The dates of these council actions were not given in the article.

## Grand Chief Stewart Phillip's statement

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC President, said the Conservative Party announced Henderson's candidacy on October 1, the day after people across the country marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and that it "felt like a slap in the face." He added that the pain of residential school denialism "has no place in public discourse" and that "no individual should be acclaimed by any party when they have perpetuated Residential School denialism, including Mr. Henderson."

The UBCIC's call is a public demand directed at the Conservative Party. It is not a finding by any court, regulator, or Elections BC.

## NDP candidate's comment

[Ravi Parmar](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/ravi-parmar), the BC NDP candidate for Langford-Highlands, said Henderson's denialism "was publicly known when Lorne Doerkson approved him as a candidate." Parmar also asked whether Doerkson considers "these views are acceptable under his leadership." These are Parmar's own claims about the Conservative leader. The Conservative Party's response to Parmar's comments was not reported in the Indo-Canadian Voice article.

Henderson remains the BC Conservative candidate for Powell River-Sunshine Coast. Nominations closed October 3, 2026. Advance voting opens October 16, with voting day on October 24. Voters can find all candidates for the riding at [Elections BC](/bc/provincial-2026/candidates/john-henderson) or the candidate's page at this site.

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/bc/provincial-2026/sitemap.md) for all pages.