Not Every Canadian MP Stood to Honour Charlie Kirk

It was a symbolic moment in the House of Commons.

Conservative MP Rachel Thomas spoke about the importance of defending freedom of speech in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, an American political organizer, influencer and high-profile supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, who was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while speaking at a university in Utah.

“Charlie Kirk was an outspoken advocate for faith, family and freedom,” Thomas said. “Many disagreed with him; some were offended.”

MPs on both sides of the house — including prominent members of the Liberal caucus, like Gregor Robertson, Chrystia Freeland and Dominic Leblanc — then stood to join in a standing ovation.

But not every MP took part in the gesture.

In a letter posted on Bluesky, Ernie Klassen, who represents the B.C. riding of South Surrey-White Rock, said he’d received many messages of concern from constituents who wanted to know whether he’d joined the demonstration of support.

Klassen said he rejects political violence in any form, but “hate speech and discrimination permeated Mr. Kirk’s work.” Klassen went on to write that Kirk’s death has “only led to escalating violent rhetoric here in Canada.”

“We have seen intensified hate speech and threats, harassment campaigns stoked by public officials, and organized mobs trying to destroy the careers of fellow Canadians,” Klassen wrote. “The injustice of what befell him last week should not be used to excuse or ignore any of this.”

In the hours following Kirk’s shooting, high-profile figures in the MAGA movement, as well as far-right extremists, called for civil war, to punish Democrats for “terrorism,” named “the left” as “the party of murder” and called to restart far-right militias.

Canadian journalist Rachel Gilmore was swept up in the fury. After a post she wrote on X was condemned by Conservative MP Andrew Scheer, Gilmore’s name was the first to appear on a website called “Expose Charlie’s Murderers.” Gilmore, who has contributed columns to The Tyee, then received death and rape threats.

In the United States numerous people have been fired from their jobs or faced professional repercussions after making comments about Kirk’s death that were deemed offensive, callous or insensitive. Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show was suspended indefinitely after he made comments about the MAGA movement’s political exploitation of Kirk’s killing.

People on the political right have been grieving Kirk’s death and praising his commitment to political debate and his strong Christian faith.

But at the same time there has been growing attention to Kirk’s views on abortion and place of women in society, racist characterization of Black people as violent or unqualified for white-collar jobs; willingness to hurl slurs at LGBTQ+ people; and his warnings that immigrants would replace white people.

He espoused the controversial cause of Christian nationalism — the belief that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and its laws should reflect Christian religious principles.

Kirk at times weighed in on Canadian politics. In a Sept. 1, 2023, X post, Kirk said that unmarked grave investigations at Canadian residential schools were a hoax. “Canada didn't have racial guilt as a founding myth,” he wrote, “so it invented a genocidal atrocity to atone for.”

Klassen said he wasn’t the only Liberal MP to refuse to take part in the standing ovation, although he didn’t name the other MPs and his office declined an interview request from The Tyee.

The Tyee asked several B.C.-based NDP MPs for their response.

Staff for Gord Johns, MP for Courtenay-Alberni, forwarded The Tyee a statement being sent to constituents who had concerns.

In the letter, Johns tells his constituents he didn't participate in the standing ovation.

"I do not support or share the views of Charlie Kirk or the hateful, divisive politics he promoted. His record of misogyny, xenophobia, racism and homophobia runs counter to the values I hold and the inclusive, just Canada we are all working to build," Johns said.

He added that he abhors political violence: "A democratic society cannot function if people are attacked or killed for their beliefs, no matter how much we may oppose those beliefs. Violence and extremism — whether in the United States or here in Canada — tear communities apart and endanger our democracy."

A statement from Jenny Kwan, Vancouver East NDP MP, said that none of the party’s MPs participated in the standing ovation. Kwan said she denounces political violence, but “anyone with a platform should always be mindful that political rhetoric that is incendiary, racist and dehumanizing is unacceptable.”

Other MPs have said they did take part in the gesture and subsequently received complaints from constituents. Will Greaves, a Liberal MP who represents the B.C. riding of Victoria, said he did take part in the standing ovation along with most other MPs in the House of Commons.

“Some people are wondering whether that means that Canadian members of Parliament agree with the many views that the late Mr. Kirk espoused which, at their very, very basic root, undermined universal rights and dignity for all people and in many ways, undermined the very bonds of liberal democracy,” Greaves said in a video posted to X.

Despite those concerns, Greaves said, he and his colleagues stood to take part in the applause because “there is nothing more damaging to a free and open society than political violence, and there is no value… more fundamental to our democratic system than the right to free expression.”

Stewart Prest, a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia, said the conversations about Kirk in Canada show how entwined our politics have become with the United States.

“It’s interesting to see how significant it has been in Canadian discourse as well,” Prest said. “Charlie Kirk wasn't an elected official, he had no official capacity in the United States… and doesn't have any direct relevance to Canadian politics at all.”

Given the extreme nature of many of Kirk’s comments, the simple act of rising for a standing ovation in response to his death has taken on significance.

“The challenge seems to be to distinguish between wanting to advocate for free speech and free expression and to stand against political violence — but to not also at the same time seem to condone or turn a blind eye to the kind of hateful things that Charlie Kirk said,” Prest said.

“When it comes to an up or down thing like a standing ovation, it's very hard to put together a nuanced response.”

Klassen, a past president of the White Rock Pride Society who defeated Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay to win his riding, said the choice was clear.

“Ignoring the harms that hate speech and harassment inflict on vulnerable communities means abandoning those who fear for their safety in the face of that rhetoric,” he wrote in his statement.

“I will not stand by while Canadians feel dehumanized by violent rhetoric, and threatened by the political movements and actors that wield it.”