By Black Sheep Whistleblower
June 10, 2026
PHOTO OF JAMES McFADDIN IN HIS RCMP UNIFORM IN JULY 2025 the day that I actually was walking my dogs (by a complete fluke actually so it was meant to happen) and saw him that evening out of a call with the RCMP about 1 minute walk from my house and we caught eyes and we both knew … As we passed each other that evening, we made eye contact which is etched in my brain because he made a smirk I will never forget – he knew he was caught red handed. At the time, I believed I had finally confirmed something I had suspected for years regarding James’ relationship with the RCMP. Whether that belief was justified or not is a question readers can consider after reviewing the evidence presented in this series.
✝️ Introduction
For nearly a decade, I have found myself at the center of what I believe is one of the most extraordinary stories of corruption, abuse of power, institutional failure, and retaliation that Canada has seen in recent memory.
What began as professional disputes eventually expanded into a labyrinth involving provincial and federal government agencies, the RCMP, the Alberta Securities Commission, my former professional associations in British Columbia and Alberta, lawyers, judges, regulators, politicians, and others operating behind the scenes. Along the way, I witnessed what I believe were repeated failures of accountability by institutions that Canadians are taught to trust.
The story began with the destruction of my professional career.
After more than twenty-five years as a professional geologist, including a successful career in the oil and gas and mineral exploration industries, I found myself the subject of disciplinary proceedings that would ultimately strip me of my professional credentials and effectively ban me from working in my chosen profession in both British Columbia and Alberta. To this day, I maintain that neither I nor my lawyer attended or defended those proceedings and that critical facts surrounding those matters were never properly heard.
The consequences were catastrophic.
The loss of my professional registration triggered a chain reaction that affected every aspect of my family’s life. Our finances deteriorated. Our savings disappeared. We lost multiple properties in both Canada and the United States. By 2018, my family had effectively been left homeless, struggling to survive the fallout from decisions made by institutions that claimed to be acting in the public interest.
The situation only worsened.
In 2020, I found myself incarcerated following proceedings that I continue to believe were fundamentally unjust. What should have been the end of the story instead became another chapter in a saga that seemed to grow more bizarre with each passing year.
Then came 2025.
In November of that year, I received what the RCMP refers to as a Duty to Warn concerning an alleged murder-for-hire plot targeting me. Weeks later, in January 2026, my family’s home in Castlegar was firebombed while my daughter and I were inside. Those events transformed what had once been a professional and legal battle into something far more sinister.
Readers unfamiliar with those events can review the following articles:
🚨 The Murder Plot That Failed – Xmas 2025 and the Firebombing That Followed 🚨
🚨 Part 2 – The Posts That Followed the Firebombing 🚨
Throughout this journey, many individuals crossed my path.
Some were lawyers.
Some were judges.
Some were regulators.
Some were police officers.
Some were politicians.
And some were pastors.
This story is about one of those pastors.
For years, James McFaddin was much more than the pastor of my church.
He was a trusted friend.
He attended court proceedings with me.
He knew the details of my legal battles.
He understood the financial devastation my family was experiencing.
He knew about the investigations, the lawsuits, the professional discipline proceedings, and the emotional toll those events were taking on my wife, my children, and myself.
He was present during some of the most difficult years of my life.
Today, James McFaddin works for the RCMP.
His wife, Maria McFaddin, serves as the Mayor of Castlegar.
Those are facts.
What follows are also facts, drawn from emails, text messages, correspondence, and events that occurred over many years.
Whether those facts reveal nothing more than a series of unfortunate coincidences, or something far more significant, is a question I will leave to the reader.
⚖️ James McFaddin Had a Front-Row Seat to My Family’s Collapse.. condoned by the Castlegar RCMP
By 2017, my life had already become a battlefield.
What had started as professional disputes had evolved into years of litigation, investigations, regulatory proceedings, court appearances, financial hardship, and relentless stress. The cumulative effect on my family was devastating. Every year seemed to bring a new crisis, a new legal fight, or a new challenge that demanded our time, energy, and resources.
Through much of that period, James McFaddin was present.
He was not hearing about these events second-hand through church gossip or community rumours. He was witnessing them in real time.
He attended court proceedings with me.
He sat through hearings.
He took notes.
He prayed with my family.
He provided spiritual guidance during some of the most difficult years of our lives.
He was copied on correspondence involving legal proceedings, settlement discussions, financial matters, and efforts to rebuild what had been lost.
In April 2019, James was copied on correspondence confirming that my family had paid more than $140,000 in fines, costs, and related obligations arising from proceedings that had already consumed years of our lives. He knew the financial burden those matters had imposed on my family because he was receiving updates directly from me.
He knew about the loss of professional credentials.
He knew about the legal battles.
He knew about the mounting costs.
He knew about the strain on my marriage and family.
He knew about the uncertainty surrounding our future.
Most importantly, he knew that these events were not simply affecting me. They were affecting my wife, my children, and every aspect of our lives.
That matters because what happened later cannot be viewed in isolation.
James was not a casual observer looking in from the outside.
He was one of the very few people who had a comprehensive understanding of what my family was experiencing behind closed doors.
He had a front-row seat to the entire collapse.
That is what makes the events that followed so difficult for me to understand.
By 2017 my life had already become a battlefield.
Years of litigation, investigations, professional discipline proceedings, and public attacks had left my family emotionally and financially exhausted.
Through much of that period, James McFaddin was present.
He attended court proceedings with me.
He took notes.
He provided spiritual guidance.
He prayed with my family.
He was copied on correspondence involving legal proceedings, settlement discussions, financial matters, and efforts to rebuild our lives.
In April 2019, James was copied on correspondence confirming that my family had paid more than $140,000 in fines, costs, and related obligations arising from proceedings that had already consumed years of our lives.
He knew what was happening.
He knew what it was costing.
He knew what it was doing to my family.
That matters because what happened later cannot be viewed in isolation.
James was not a casual observer.
He had a front-row seat.
🚚 The Truck Ride with Jamed McFaddin that changed everything – Oct 15 2018.
One incident has never left me.
On October 15, 2018, at approximately 11:00 PM, James arrived at my home. My wife and kids were in bed and I was jsut going to be telling James two hours earlier at 9pm this was too late to speak about so we will catch up tomorrow. Why did he come to my house you might add .. well that is becuase two hours ealier in a text message I have called him out as working for the RCMP and he was clearly no happy because i know now he was caught and he was a Pastor of New Life Church also working for the RCMP … thats a huge conflict.
The text messages speak for themselves.
“Come on out.”
“I’m at your house.”
When I hesitated, the tone changed.
“Get
The
Fuck
Out
To
My
Truck.”
Then:
“You and I are going for a drive.”
At the time I complied.
I trusted him.
He was my pastor.
Looking back, however, I see the event differently.
Not because of what happened that evening when I thought he was taking me up a treacherous road with no cell in the dark in mountainous terrian driving too fest to me death actuclly …
(HERE IS A TRUE COPY OF THAT TEXT MESSAGE TO ME FROM JAMES ON OCTOBER 15 2018:
📱 The Apology – James Apologizes Months Later – July 13, 2019
Nearly two years later James sent me a text message acknowledging the incident.
His words were simple.
“Dave, I’ve apologized and asked for forgiveness regarding the truck ride. I was wrong.”
“I am sorry.”
The apology was not made privately.
According to James himself, he had apologized not only to me but also to Donna, Brent, and others who had asked about it.
That raises a simple question.
Why?
Why did a pastor feel compelled years later to apologize for a late-night truck ride?
What exactly was he apologizing for?
Only James can answer that question.
But the apology itself is part of the documentary record. Below is a true copy of same:
🎙️ The Audio Recording
By late 2020 another issue had emerged.
For years I had been asking James for a copy of an audio recording that he had previously told me existed that he had taken in a court proceeding that he was attending with me … which is illegal btw as he recorded the Court proceeding and a conversation with the opposing layer that my lawyer has approved him to have.
I believed the recording contained information relevant to litigation that had dramatically impacted my life.
Whether I was right or wrong about its significance is not the point.
The point is that James knew I believed it was important.
I repeatedly requested access to it.
I never received it.
As pressure mounted, our relationship deteriorated rapidly.
What had once been trust became suspicion.
What had once been friendship became conflict.
💰 More Than A Pastor
One of the reasons this story continues to bother me years later is because James McFaddin knew more about what was happening in my life than almost anyone outside of my immediate family.
He knew about the lawsuits.
He knew about the professional disciplinary proceedings.
He knew about the investigations.
He knew about the financial devastation that was unfolding around us.
He knew about the loss of our homes, our savings, my career, and the opportunities that had taken decades to build.
He knew about my fear of returning to jail and the enormous pressure that placed on my family. He knew about my struggles with faith as I tried to reconcile what was happening to us with the Christian principles I had embraced through New Life Church.
Most importantly, he witnessed much of it firsthand.
At the time, I genuinely believed James was standing beside me. I believed he was one of the few people who truly understood what my family was going through and who was trying to help us navigate one of the darkest periods of our lives.
Looking back today, however, I am left with questions.
In July 2025, I personally observed James wearing an RCMP uniform while serving in his role as RCMP Chaplain in Castlegar. That fact alone proves nothing improper. Many communities have chaplains who provide support services to police officers and first responders.
What it did do, however, was cause me to revisit a number of events that had occurred years earlier and ask questions I had never fully resolved.
Was James simply acting as a pastor and friend throughout those years?
Or was his relationship with the RCMP deeper and longer-standing than I understood at the time?
I do not claim to know the answer.
What I do know is that today he works closely with the very organization that has featured prominently throughout so many chapters of my story, including the ongoing investigation into the January 2026 firebombing of my family’s home. More than five months after that attack, no suspects have publicly been identified and many questions remain unanswered.
Those facts may ultimately amount to nothing more than coincidence.
Or they may not.
That is for readers to decide.
What is often overlooked is the level of commitment my family made to New Life Church during those years.
I am not even going to spend much time discussing the personal financial assistance I provided to James during a difficult period in his own life. Nor am I going to delve into the circumstances surrounding a donation of approximately $129,000 that was briefly directed to New Life Church in 2019 before it had to be reversed as a result of ongoing legal and financial actions against my family.
Those are stories for another day.
What is more important is the countless hours my wife and I devoted to the church community.
My wife served as a Director of the Church.
I volunteered extensively with church programs and community outreach initiatives. I worked with youth programs, mentored young people, assisted families moving into and out of the community, participated in outreach efforts, and helped support initiatives aimed at serving vulnerable members of the community, including the homeless.
Many of the children I worked with came from families deeply connected to the community, including families associated with local law enforcement and emergency services.
The reality is that my involvement with New Life Church had become far more than simply attending Sunday services.
For a period of several years, it was effectively a full-time commitment.
That is one of the reasons the collapse of my relationship with James McFaddin and New Life Church has never sat comfortably with me.
You do not simply walk away from that level of investment, trust, friendship, and shared experience without asking yourself what really happened.
❓ Questions That Remain
To be clear, I am not claiming that I possess proof of a conspiracy involving James McFaddin.
Nor am I suggesting that the facts presented in this article establish wrongdoing on his part.
What I am saying is that when I look back over the last decade and review the emails, text messages, court records, correspondence, and events that unfolded, I see a pastor who occupied a uniquely influential position in my life during one of its darkest chapters.
James attended court proceedings with me.
He possessed information that few people had access to.
He knew intimate details about my family, my finances, my legal battles, and my struggles to maintain my faith while my life was being dismantled around me.
He later acknowledged that at least one significant incident involving me was wrong and apologized for it.
And eventually our relationship collapsed completely.
The question is not whether these events occurred.
The documentary record speaks for itself.
The question is why.
Why did a relationship built on trust deteriorate so dramatically?
Why were certain questions never answered?
Why was information that I believed was important never produced?
And why, years later, do so many of these events appear interconnected when viewed together as part of a larger timeline?
Perhaps there are perfectly innocent explanations for all of it.
Perhaps there are explanations that have yet to come to light.
What I have learned through years of litigation, investigations, professional discipline proceedings, RCMP interactions, a Duty to Warn, an alleged murder-for-hire plot, and ultimately the firebombing of my family’s home is that appearances can be deceiving and assumptions can be dangerous.
For that reason, I have attempted throughout this article to focus on documented events and allow readers to draw their own conclusions.
What happened next only deepened those questions.
That is where Part 2 begins.
🚨 An Unexpected Appearance: James McFaddin’s Name Resurfaces in an Alleged Murder Plot Xmas 2025 twice but this was the first and most egregious where its said by the conspirator of the Murder plot (James McFaddin’s former sister in law Svetlana Dalla Lana fiance at the time Michael Martinz in an audio recording) where Michael says to a PI who was concerned that my murder (by a hitman paid for by Martinz at my gym Anytime Fitness in Castlegar) would come back on the PI while Michael and Svetlana were away on vacation in Costa Rica:“Deny, deny, deny. Lots of people want Drover dead.”… like “James McFaddin“
As if the questions raised throughout this article were not strange enough, James McFaddin’s name would unexpectedly resurface years later in a completely unrelated context.
In November 2025, I received what the RCMP refers to as a Duty to Warn regarding an alleged threat to my life. What followed over the next several months would eventually culminate in the firebombing of my family’s home in January 2026.
While attempting to understand what had happened, I was approached by a private investigator who expressed concerns for my safety.
According to information provided to me by that investigator, and based on what I was told was an audio-recorded conversation involving one of the investigator’s clients, discussions allegedly took place concerning a murder-for-hire plot targeting me.
I was not present during the conversation.
I did not record the conversation.
I did not make the allegations.
I am simply recounting information that was provided to me by the investigator and what I personally later heard on an audio recording.
According to my recollection of that recording, the individual allegedly discussed concerns that if anything happened to me, suspicion might eventually fall upon the investigator because of his association with the matter.
The response, as I recall hearing it, was:
“Deny, deny, deny. Lots of people want Drover dead.”… like “James McFaddin…”
According to my recollection of the recording, the individual then allegedly referenced several people or groups who supposedly had reasons to dislike me or wish me harm.
One of the names allegedly mentioned was James McFaddin.
That caught my attention immediately.
Not because I viewed it as evidence of wrongdoing by James.
But because after years of legal battles, church disputes, damaged relationships, and unanswered questions, his name had unexpectedly surfaced once again in a context that I never could have imagined.
For readers interested in that aspect of the story, I discussed it in greater detail here:
🔗 https://x.com/DavidDrover1476/status/2064698247571214357?s=20
Whether the allegations discussed by the investigator are true is ultimately a matter for law enforcement and others to determine.
What is relevant to this article is simply this:
Years after my relationship with James McFaddin had collapsed, and years after many of the events described in this series had occurred, his name allegedly resurfaced during discussions surrounding an alleged threat to my life.
Perhaps that means nothing.
Perhaps it is merely another coincidence in a decade filled with coincidences.
Or perhaps it is one more piece of a puzzle that remains incomplete.
I will leave that question to readers.
Part 2 continues with the events that followed and the questions that, even today, remain unanswered.
⚠️ Editorial & Fair Comment Notice
This article contains my personal recollections, opinions, interpretations, and commentary regarding events that occurred over many years involving my family, various institutions, and individuals who played significant roles in my life.
Unless otherwise stated, all factual assertions in this article are based upon documents, emails, text messages, court records, public records, correspondence, photographs, audio recordings, witness accounts, and events that I personally experienced or observed.
Where I express concerns, suspicions, beliefs, opinions, questions, or draw inferences from the available evidence, those statements are clearly intended as commentary and fair comment based upon facts that are either publicly available, documented, or disclosed within this article.
Readers should understand that many events discussed herein remain disputed, contested, or subject to differing interpretations by the individuals involved. Accordingly, references to motives, intentions, relationships, conflicts of interest, institutional conduct, or possible explanations for events represent my personal views and conclusions based upon the information presently available to me.
Nothing in this article should be interpreted as a finding of fact by a court, law enforcement agency, government body, regulatory authority, or other adjudicative tribunal unless expressly stated and supported by publicly available records.
The purpose of this publication is to document my experiences, preserve the historical record as I understand it, encourage public discussion, and invite readers to review the evidence and draw their own conclusions.
As always, if any individual believes that factual information contained herein is inaccurate, incomplete, or requires clarification, I welcome the opportunity to review additional evidence and make appropriate corrections where warranted.
— Black Sheep Whistleblower
June 10, 2026
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