Hundreds attend Fort St. John vigil for Charlie Kirk

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Hundreds of people attended a vigil for an American political commentator in Fort St. John over the weekend.

A vigil was organized to memorialize Charlie Kirk, a conservative pundit and talk radio host who was shot and killed at an event in Utah on September 10th.

Kirk’s death has been divisive, with the White House lowering its flags to half-mast in his memory while other public figures noted Kirk often courted controversy. 

The Guardian aggregated a number of his statements that have been considered offensive over the years, including Kirk saying he would ensure his 10-year-old daughter delivered a baby conceived via rape if the situation arose and claiming “prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people.”

American talk show host Jimmy Kimmel criticized Kirk’s supporters for trying to distance themselves from his killer in the days since his passing. According to CBC, Kimmel’s comments led to his show being cancelled indefinitely.

The vigil was held on Friday, September 19th in Centennial Park, beginning at 7 p.m, with guest speakers including Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer and local pastor Logan Harder. The American and Canadian national anthems were also performed live.

Zimmer described Kirk as a man outspoken about faith, the value of family and freedom, and said his killing “shocked us all” in Canada.

“It should be a wake-up call for us in Canada as we see the erosion of free expression and the heightened threats to Canadian safety because of what we believe and say,” Zimmer said. “We must do better.”

Harder, who gave an extensive speech to end the vigil, said Kirk was an “advocate for freedom.”

“[He stood] for truth, for boldness, he was courageous,” Harder said. “He stood for God and for the gospel.”

Harder implored audience members to honour Kirk and his memory by allowing themselves to be influenced by him and his work over the years.

Skylar Cobbett, the event’s organizer, said she was “filled with joy” to see how many people attended the vigil, and she was particularly pleased to see a diverse crowd.

“There are Indigenous people here, there are African-American people here, there are east Indian people here,” Cobbett said in an interview at the event. “There were a lot of people that tried to say [Kirk] was a racist man. He was not a racist man, and I think that this diverse crowd made that pretty clear tonight.”

Cobbett also said she was “absolutely floored” to learn Zimmer would be attending.

“It, I think, really brings our community together to see a politician be here and support this unity and solidarity,” Cobbett said.