Letter: MHC making a mistake allowing Rebel News Panel to occur

By Letter to the Editor on February 11, 2026.

Dear editor,

I’m writing regarding our local college’s decision to host a Rebel News Panel. Medicine Hat College’s motto is “Scientia Mentem Sustinet,” which is Latin for “Knowledge Sustains the Mind.”

This motto invites a reasonable inquiry into the College’s decision to host Rebel News Panelist Tamara Lich – among others – as a speaker.

Ms. Lich was a central organizer of the 2022 Ottawa occupation, where she repeatedly advised fellow occupiers to “hold the line” to encourage prolonged defiance of local bylaws.

In 2025, she was convicted of mischief, intimidation, and counselling to commit mischief and is currently serving a conditional sentence.

The issue is not whether Ms. Lich is legally allowed to speak in public. It is whether what she promotes – and the manner in which she promotes it – aligns with an academic mission. Higher education is meant to foster critical inquiry, evidence-based reasoning, and openness to challenge.

Political mobilization built on slogans and defiance serves a different purpose. Hosting such a speaker, under the banner of “knowledge” risks blurring the line between education and political roadshows.

Will this event align with the college’s stated motto, and truly sustain the mind? Would a more appropriate venue be a hotel conference room, rather than a publicly funded academic institution?

Anna Hansen

Medicine Hat

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