(0:00 - 0:05) Hey everybody, I am Madison Holmes. And I am Maycee Holmes. And you're watching Holmes Squared.   (0:06 - 1:42) And for this episode, it's going to be super exciting because it's not just regarding me and Maycee's opinion on things. This is actually a We Unify conference that's happening in Calgary this year. It's been happening in BC for the last couple years, but it's one that even our lovely boss Will Dove, the founder of Iron Wire Daily, is participating in.   He participated in it with us in the year 2023. That's before we actually partnered up together. That was kind of the intro of us starting to work together and figure out, oh hey, we're both in Calgary.   But this year he's going to be speaking again. So this is something that we get to promote not just as Holmes Squared, but also just generally as the Iron Wire Daily. This is something that the whole crew is in support of, and there's a lot of knowledge regarding it.   And today we have a beautiful spokesperson on behalf of the conference that we're going to get her story, why she's involved with it, and then she will give us the whole laydown. Yeah, so without further ado, would you like to introduce yourself to the audience of who you are and how long you've been involved with We Unify and how you got involved? Yeah, absolutely. Hi, everybody.   My name is Chloe Barnes. It is a pleasure to be with y'all today. I got involved with We Unify actually fairly recently.   One of the leadership team members was in attendance at the Art Conference in London, which is founded by Jordan Peterson. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with that. Oh, definitely familiar.   (1:42 - 2:34) Oh, yeah. Okay. Perfect.   Perfect. Yes. So I met the We Unify team there actually, and they reached out to me directly just expressing interest in bringing on some Americans.   I'm actually based out of the States, out of Texas to help with the conference this upcoming year because they're wanting to model it a little bit closer to what ARC is trying to do and basically become like the North American mini version of it is kind of their goal. And so they brought me on board and just kind of were asking about my skill set basically as a volunteer, what can I bring to the table? And I said, I really love having conversations with people. I would be happy to kind of come on board as your communications person.   And so that is what I have been doing for We Unify all summer. I'm their volunteer communications director. I've had the opportunity to speak with and get to know a lot of our keynote speakers, including Will Dove.   (2:34 - 4:38) Actually, he and I did an interview a couple of weeks ago. He's awesome. But yeah, yeah.   So that's kind of a crash course into why I'm here and how I got involved with We Unify. Were you doing this before We Unify? When did you start? How did you even hear about We Unify? You were at the ARC conference. What got you there? So what got me there was basically trying to network, right? So I have been in the advocacy realm for, gosh, probably five or six years now.   And my primary focus is disability. So I do a lot of work within the autism community, not just autism, with CP and SMA as well. And so that's kind of my passion.   And I am wanting to kind of bring disability and bring those voices to the table of change. And it just seems to be a little bit of a neglected topic across the board, not just in politics, but in general. And so I initially flew out to ARC to try to meet some folks, not just folks based out of the States, but also based out of Canada as well, just to see kind of who could I talk to to kind of help me get my foot in the door and network and become more skilled in the advocacy world.   I'm still fairly young. I'm new to all this. So I basically just attended to learn.   Did not actually interact with anybody in person from We Unify. They reached out to me separately. The ARC developed this really cool app to where anybody who's in attendance, you can access their email and you can submit a connection request and say, hey, we like what we see in your profile.   We're interested in getting to know more about you. And so that's what leadership did. They reached out to me and said, hey, we noticed you were here.   You're from North America. We would love to connect with you and see kind of how we can work together. And so the reason that I was super excited to jump on board is because it really was a super awesome opportunity to network.   I'm not super familiar with Canada. Hadn't really known nobody from Canada prior to coming on board this project. And so it's been really awesome to get to meet just top notch people.   Absolutely phenomenal. That's amazing. I mean, we're from Alberta, so we are called Little Texas all the time.   (4:38 - 5:14) So that's dope. Yes, everyone's basically told me, oh, yeah, Alberta is just like Texas. We're just north.   OK, I'll take your word for it. Yeah, that's also one thing we noticed when we spoke in the 2023 conference in Victoria. There were actually quite a few Albertan speakers.   Now, this year, there's no content. I don't think a single year has been as big as this one is going to be. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but the amount of speakers, it's pages upon page.   I should show people. There's a lot of speakers. Yeah, I should just show this is the official website.   (5:15 - 5:53) Seventy. Yeah. Over 70 speakers.   How do you have time for that? Oh, my God. Well, basically, we're not eating or sleeping. We're just working.   That's hilarious. Yeah. So where is it taking place? Is it going to be at the BMO Center? Yes.   Yeah. The BMO Center in Calgary. So we have obviously a huge venue, lots of seats to fill.   And right now, we're really just working on getting the word out there to bring as many people in as we can, because we, like you said, have a really amazing speaker lineup. Yeah. Because the format to have that many speakers, I'm assuming this is a whole weekend thing, because that's a lot of people.   (5:54 - 6:03) I think that's even bigger, more speakers in the Cornerstone Forum. It's going to be a long days. It's going to be jam packed full of tons of information.   (6:03 - 10:42) We'll actually have a couple panels, which is going to be great, because that'll give our audience an opportunity to hear from multiple speakers at the same time. And then we'll have a broadcast program going as well, which is going to be fully online for those who can't make it in person. So it's lots of juggling, but it'll be super fun.   Yeah, no kidding. That'll be fun. I remember when we did the 2023, Chris Scott got invited.   And it was supposed to be people had to pay to actually stream it. It was like, Okay, guys, like to help out the cause. So here's some money and then watch online.   And then Chris Scott being the man he is, of course, just starts to record it live for free on Facebook. And we're like, bro, we do. Yeah, he endorsed everybody, every event that's been like, here with everyone.   Yeah. True Albertan there. He doesn't.   He is reticent at the best of times. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, I guess my something I'm very curious about is how is it like, how have you taken to all of I guess the politics of it all? Because reclaiming Canada and we unify, it's like, it's interesting, because you say you're from the States, right? So it's like, I'm curious in terms of the sense of the parallels between you being in the States, and then you coming in helping out with like, seeing what's going on in Canada right now, because even the conversation of like, Alberta, like you chose Calgary, and I want to ask you why you guys chose Calgary as your location, because it's like, even the controversy that's coming out about potentially Alberta becoming independent, 51st state, all these things.   I'm like, how does the politics of it all kind of resonate with you and your story and why you've chosen to even like participate in this direction? Of course, that's a really great question, actually. So in terms of Canadian politics, I was not super familiar going into it. What my understanding was is that there is a movement in Canada who's really fighting to preserve free speech and free choice and ultimately less government involvement, right? I mean, since the pandemic, I have seen or at least our news media has reported, it's getting worse and worse and worse in terms of government overreach there in Canada.   And so to kind of step in and get involved in an organization with a group of people who is actively working against that, I found to be super fascinating just because I have never been to Canada. I don't have experience there. And so to get to hear firsthand the stories of just absolute cancel culture and censorship and free choice being taken away, honestly, it was super surprising for me.   I didn't realize quite how drastic the turn was in a negative light since COVID. And so it's gotten me super excited to be a part of this organization because I'm like, okay, cool. This is the forefront of trying to preserve freedom, which as an American, I'm a big fan of all that.   But in terms of Alberta, and it's interesting that you bring that up as well, because the Alberta secession has been a topic that a lot of the speakers I've interviewed have just kind of brought up organically on their own. Apparently, it's, I guess, a very hot topic there in Canada. I'm very glad you said that.   Yeah, keep going. I'm very, because I would love to separate. It's so funny, because so far, the consensus has been that there's not a lot of negatives surrounding separation of Alberta.   Obviously, we unify, our goal is to unify the Canadian people, not necessarily encourage Albertans to secede, because I think there's more work that can be done as a community than trying to go it alone. However, that being said, a lot of our speakers have made super interesting points and just saying that there needs to be a drastic stance and a drastic change there in Canada to get people to kind of wake up and realize the extent of what is happening. And the Alberta secession seems to be a common theme in terms of this would really wake up the Canadian people because whether or not Alberta ends up becoming the 51st state, that's a whole other rabbit trail.   It would still be controversial enough to get the people in power to actually have to listen for a change, which would be very interesting. So I'm just enjoying hearing all these takes, and we're looking forward to see how it's going to unfold in the next couple months. And if the conference has any impact on this, I don't know.   But the fact that we have over 70 speakers coming together to talk about topics like this, I think is going to be just super fascinating to get to be a part of and to get to hear. No, yeah, I agree. I think that that's the best way of putting it in the sense where it's just like now attention is coming towards it.   And that is hugely important. I mean, whether or not it does or doesn't happen. Now you have people that are just wanting to get educated and kind of go like, whoa, like, what would it actually look like if they did? Oh, well, I don't want to.   (10:42 - 13:33) But how do I, you know, move forward in a direction where it's like, okay, how do I hear out these people and at the same time, try and figure out how do we unify? Right? So yeah, that's it. That's very interesting. Sorry, Maddie, you wanted to say something? No, it's just that's it's precisely that reason why I thought it was so significant.   The fact that it's happening in Calgary this year, I thought out of this year, why? Why here? You know, we're not even there's Edmonton, everybody likes Edmonton. So why not go there? But we're in Calgary, our own backyard. So I'm like, has the team talked about that? Was there a strategy picking Calgary? Ironically, no, it was just kind of a happy accident.   We knew we were Yes, we knew we wanted to go bigger and bolder this year. Our goal is to make this conference the biggest that it's ever been. And so we need a venue to be able to fit all the people in.   And being that we are a conference who's promoting quote unquote, controversial ideas, it actually was kind of difficult to find a venue that was willing to host us. And so the BMO center just happened to be one that said, okay, sure, you can host your event here. And just happened to be in Alberta.   But honestly, the timing of it all ended up being really great, because a lot of our speakers and attendees are excited that it is in Alberta, specifically for the reason you mentioned. So definitely a happy accident. Wow, that's exciting.   That's really interesting. I guess, Maycee, do you want to go to the speakers question next? Yeah, we should definitely be touching on so what is this? Because usually I'm if we know Jonathan, he likes themes in the sense of like, oh, what do we want to target it? So what is this year's theme? And then how do your speakers relate to that? Yeah, that's a great question. So this year's theme, honestly, we've got several, but our biggest goal is connections to build the future, right? And so basically, what we're looking at is reclaiming all things from justice to health, to faith and freedom to sovereignty, resilience, we've got a reclaiming the future.   And all these topics are going to be addressed, either via panel or via groups of speakers speaking into, you know, these particular areas. So we've got folks like, you know, Dr. Robert Malone, and Dr. Jennifer Hibberd, and Lisa Robinson, and Rod Giltaca, and all these amazing individuals who are super talented in their own specific niches, but getting together ultimately to talk about how do reclaim, how do we reclaim these topics in a way that is conserving freedom, conserving the conservative movement, and also just families in general. Yeah, yeah.   And on that, I guess I'll show some of the speakers here, because we've heard of some of them. You know, we do a lot of research for this podcast, even Caylan Ford. I thought my vocabulary was good.   It is absolute dog crap compared to hers. We heard her for the first time speak at the Cornerstone event, which is Sean Newman's event. He held it in Calgary also for the first time, because he's up in Lloydminster.   (13:34 - 14:22) But you have a variety of people, some people I haven't even heard of. And I guess part of what I was curious about is, even Jennifer Johnson here, she had some controversy up here in Calgary, because she's a local MLA. And so what about these people? I know some of them, Leighton Gray, we talked with him in the 2023 conference, but what is it about these people that you picked? Big names are kind of obvious, but is it people that reached out to you and said, hey, I think I have something to contribute? Were you guys seeking out people based off of maybe other people that attended the art conference? So how did you decide these were the people worth speaking and had something to offer? That's also a really good question.   (14:22 - 17:36) So honestly, the answer is kind of all of the above. We had some who came to us, we kind of just cast the net really wide just to see who was interested and who could we get connected and invested in this program this year. A couple of our people did come from ARC and we received their contact information that way.   Some of it is word of mouth. We've reached out to some of our returning speakers and said, hey, you clearly like what we stand for and you had a good time participating in the conference in the past. Who do you know that might be worth inviting and bringing on board to be our speaker this upcoming year? And so it really, truly was just about networking and figuring out, OK, how can we get people who not only are like minded, because we do have some individuals who are coming in who maybe don't have the same exact political stance, but who are just simply willing to have conversations and to be willing to say, OK, we're all ultimately working towards the same goal, regardless of where we fall on the political spectrum.   So how can we have conversations that are docile? And by docile, I don't mean like pacifist. I mean, actually like Socratic dialogue where I'm going to listen to what you have to say and you're going to listen to what I have to say. And we have a conversation face to face, like real people.   And so all of these speakers are just honestly, it's been super impressive just to hear their willingness to come on board and to have these conversations, even with people that they may not necessarily agree with fully. I'm really sad that me and Maddie aren't going to be able to go because I just saw as many I'm like Curtis Stone. I'm like, oh, my God.   I'm like, no, I'm not going to be able to be there. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it was worth it.   Like there's the amount of list of people that you guys are having like that is that is very valuable because you have all these beautiful brains just all in one area together. And then you can actually like encourage discussion with them and then potential debate depending on who does or does not agree. And I just think that's that's honestly priceless.   Honestly. Yeah, that. No, that's an understatement, Chloe.   Like when even because this year, some of the teams did reach out to me and Maycee and even our boss, he was like, you, you guys should speak because there's not a lot of young people that, you know, get up on those stages and that are trying to stay up to date on everything that are me and Maycee's age anyway. And John and Jonathan, who is a close friend now, he kept saying, you know, the one year we choose to go in your backyard and you're not here. I'm like, I'm sorry, I don't know what to do.   But we're right down the street. Literally. It's so funny because we'll literally be in the States.   Yes, the irony. It's a good community, too. One thing that stood out was all of the offers, even including accommodation.   Like one thing you guys as a We Unify Conference, even though you're so big, you've done so much partnering with people to make this also just fiscally feasible. That's including your accommodation programs. And maybe you can talk about that and talk about some of the even exhibitors to bring in some of the money, but also just get it's another way of connecting people that they don't think about is, oh, you never like yourself, never been to Calgary, don't really know how to get accommodations.   (17:36 - 19:27) And then you get little buddy partnered programs where you can bunk with local people that are doing this anyway. You guys have exhibitions and such because like, I know that lots of people whenever we go to conferences here in Calgary, they have tables like you've all sorts of people are like, oh, I can help you with the Bitcoin domain, I can help you in the gold domain, I can help you with just buying t shirts to say I'm Albertan, I'm literally wearing one. So to answer your question, yes, we will.   So we are currently working on building our exhibition hall, we're still accepting applications for people who are interested. And our goal is to, you know, obviously fill up the space as much as we can. And that's a lot of space that we have to fill.   And so we're still honestly receiving inquiries daily of people who are interested in having booths and tables. And that is super exciting for us, because we would love the opportunity to be able to feature these organizations. And also, it's just a great resource for people who attend, right? Like, how can they take what they learn at this conference and be able to implement that in their day to day lives, maybe with other organizations, or just if they want further education.   And so that's kind of our goal with the exhibition halls to be able to provide those resources. That is awesome. So what kind of a I mean, I guess, layout is it in the sense of like, will there be like lunches? Like, how does it work, basically, in terms of what will be provided for those who attend? Yeah, that's a great question.   So it's actually kind of broken down by what type of ticket people purchase. So like you kind of mentioned, our goal is to make this conference as accessible as possible. And so we have different levels of ticket depending on what people are interested in.   And so they can do like a daily access or weekend admission, VIP, etc. And so certain levels of tickets, they do come with like lunch options and dinner options. We've got a couple of after hours events as well.   (19:27 - 19:50) That's all available on our website, if people want to pop over there and kind of check out what the different options are. But our honestly, our goal was just to make it as convenient and as accessible as we could. That is really concise.   You have such a clean website. I've seen some websites, and it's really annoying to get around. But you have all the information there, you got your posters, you even that trailer is a really good trailer.   (19:50 - 20:12) I don't know who did that with that. And you see that. Isn't it fun? The videographers and even the when we were doing ours, and they were doing interviews for us.   And then afterwards, they're like, here, guys, we finished the finished product. Because usually what will happen is they interview the speakers to ask them what they thought, which is really cool to me. And I was just like, wow, like, this is very posh.   (20:14 - 25:34) Yes, posh is a good impression to have. Yeah, so just to remind everybody of dates and when this is because it is one of the if not the biggest Canadian freedom minded conferences and just generally in all of Canada. This is something I don't think anybody wants to miss out.   And again, over 70 speakers. There's podcasters, YouTubers, politicians, there's no way there's a speaker you don't know that you're going to learn something. If not too much, you'll probably learn too much.   Let's be real. And then there's definitely gonna be people that you connect with already that are on even Viva Frei. Him and his big afro, he's gonna be there.   Okay, this is like, this is a very, very big thing that people can look into. And it's an experience having been there and spoken at it. It was such a big learning curve.   And it really lifts people up. Because that's one thing we heard over and over and over again was just because BC at the time we went to they were having it harder than we were in Alberta, we already had some movements that were grounded and on the rise. But BC, they were really fighting against, you know, some even because they were trying to get into the political realm.   So even John Rustad, he was there at the 2023 conference and trying to give this new conservative message aligning with this progressive healing of Canada. And so to see that there's even people from BC rising that will be attending this year, it'll be really, I think, encouraging for them to come to Calgary, where there's already a bit of a better base and hub of people on this line of thinking that now they can, it'll just give you that boost. If you've been burnt out, you got the black pill, because there's a lot of information and a lot that sucks out there.   This will just be something that can really reinvigorate you and remind you about why you get involved in the first place, which is what Chloe was talking about in the beginning, like this is this networking, this is what it's all about in the end. So it's September 19th to 21st. That's a big weekend, book an Airbnb, or they got this program near the end.   What is it Freedom Friends. And this is, this is also so people can if you don't have the means to do accommodations, they reach out to people locally that are willing to open their homes and invite people in. So it's like they're, these people are so accommodating to just get you there.   And that's one thing even we experienced as speakers, they were trying their damnedest to accommodate any way they could that way this thing can go on because the message really is the whole point for them. Like, I know we've been to conferences where it's like, I want to make a buck or two. And we've all known grifters, we've been a even on our side of the fence.   But these guys are, they really do try their best just to accommodate and get the message out there as Chloe was emphasizing so strongly. So that is one thing that is really, really, really nice. Now, Chloe, are there final remarks or things that you would like to say for people just to really remember? Is do they go straight to the your website to contact you ask those inquiries? Yes.   So if they want to reach out to us, if they have any questions regarding, you know, travel accommodations, what the different levels of tickets are, it's all pretty straightforward. And it's all available on our website. But if for some reason, people are confused, and they want to talk to somebody directly, that contact is going to be actually on our website as well.   So there's that little tab that says contact, if you just click there, it's going to give you a couple basic like q&a is to look through, and then it will show a submission form, submit that we'll see it in our email inbox and get back in touch ASAP. But just kind of like we've reiterated throughout our conversation, we want as many people to attend as possible. So no question is silly, ask them all we want to do whatever we can to ensure that everybody who wants to attend is able to do so.   And and also I've been seeing that you've been doing lots of interviews with some of the speakers as well. So are your interviews posted on the website at all? Or where could people go to find those? Great question. So they are actually not on our website.   Our website is pretty much primarily focused on the conference, it's going to be in our YouTube channel, we unify on YouTube, and also on Instagram as well on Facebook, there'll be some of the short form like 30 seconds, 60 second clips, and then they'll full length interviews are available on our YouTube page. And those we try to upload one to two a week. So if people are interested in kind of getting to a little preview of the speakers that we have and kind of what their discussion topics are, definitely a great place to check it out.   So when you did the interviews, like some of the speakers actually give you an idea of what it is that they want to be talking about? Yeah, so basically, the purpose of the interview was to kind of discuss any current projects that they have, and then why they're excited about the conference. So each speaker at the very tail end of the interview, it basically gives a direct message to the listener saying, hey, this is why I'm attending. And here's why you should do super great info for sure.   (25:35 - 26:28) Oh, that's great. That's really cool. That is so exciting.   I'm gonna be like watching them and going like, I'm so sad. I'm okay, we can stream it because guys, you can watch it online. Watch it online.   Yeah, for sure. Do do watch parties, guys. Because even when me and Maddie were involved with an injection of truth, like watch parties are very popular.   If you just get some friends together at your house or somebody else's home, whoever's willing and then just come together as a group. Do you guys have packages like that? Like for watch party streaming? Or is it more like individual? I think it's more individual. But if an individual wanted to host a watch party at their house and put it up on a TV, then you got the in person component with your friends and a watch party sort of.   Yeah, okay. Well, thank you. Popcorn and tears from hearing bad news.   (26:29 - 27:24) You just said it's uplifting. What is that? Get out of here. Bit of both.   Maybe a bit of both. You tear tears of joy. There you go.   Okay, Chloe, is there any last minute remarks that you want to leave people off before we have shut this down? Thank you all so much for listening. Really, honestly, I feel like we covered everything well. Just if I could reiterate encouragement to you know, buy the tickets.   Obviously, we want to know that you are interested in attendance and they do sell out quickly. So hop over to our website and click those links. Yeah, the BMO Center guys, it gets packed.   Okay, we held the last year's AGM for the UCP party was at in Calgary and it was it was packed. There were a lot of people so jump on the gun, eat the frogs. You know how that works.   (27:26 - 28:01) Thank you so much, Chloe, for joining us. This has been concise. Very exciting.   I know I'm like you're like really fast at this. I'm like, wow, she is experienced. I'm like, whoa, we like just went by so quickly.   I saw the time like we're already 14 minutes in. I was just like, whoa, like we're almost done. Oh my goodness.   Well, thank you both for your time and for asking great questions. It was fun. Well, without further ado.   Oh yeah, this has been Holmes Squared.