By Black Sheep Whistleblower
July 13, 2026
“We are compelled to stand alongside our fellow citizens in our city and abroad. We ask ourselves, ‘How can life come after something like this? Can it?’ Not the same life that it used to be. For now, in this life, we are maimed and we are scarred. Now, more than ever, we need to cling to love with child-like faith.”
— Pastor James McFaddin
Castlegar Community Vigil, June 2017
The news article:
https://rosslandnews.com/2017/06/15/updated-hundreds-come-together-at-castlegar-vigil-to-grieve/#
✝️ I Was There
I remember that evening well.
My wife and I stood among hundreds of members of the Castlegar community gathered at Millennium Park following a series of heartbreaking tragedies, including the murder of Castlegar’s own Chrissy Archibald during the London Bridge terrorist attack.
At the time, we were deeply involved with New Life Church.
My wife served as a Director of the Church.
Both of us volunteered extensively, taught, participated in leadership roles, supported outreach initiatives, and invested years of our lives serving our church and our community.
That evening, Pastor James McFaddin delivered what I believed was a powerful message.
He spoke of grief.
He spoke of scars.
He spoke of standing beside those who had suffered unimaginable loss.
He reminded the community that we are compelled to bring warmth into the cold emptiness left by tragedy.
His words moved me then.
Nine years later, they haunt me.
💔 “We Are Compelled to Stand Alongside Our Fellow Citizens”
Those words stayed with me.
“We are compelled to stand alongside our fellow citizens…”
That is exactly what happened for the Archibald family.
The community rallied.
People showed up.
They prayed.
They hugged.
They cried.
Meals were delivered.
Support poured in from across the country.
That is exactly what should happen when tragedy strikes.
It was a beautiful example of a community living out the Gospel.
Then tragedy came to my own family.
And almost none of that happened.
🔥 January 22, 2026
On January 22, 2026, my family’s home was attacked with Molotov cocktails while my daughter and I were inside.
Weeks earlier, I had received an RCMP Duty to Warn concerning an alleged threat to my life.
Months later, I would learn information from a private investigator concerning what was described to me as an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
The investigator later played portions of an audio recording for me.
According to my recollection of that recording, concerns were raised about what might happen if I were murdered.
The response allegedly given was chilling:
“Deny, deny, deny. Lots of people want Drover dead.”
According to my recollection, several names were then allegedly mentioned as examples of people who supposedly had reasons to dislike me.
One of those names was James McFaddin.
I make no allegation that James participated in any criminal activity.
I simply cannot ignore the fact that his name allegedly surfaced during a conversation that was taking place years after our relationship had ended and months before my family’s home was attacked.
🏚️ Where Was My Community?
What happened after the firebombing still astonishes me.
Where was the community that James spoke about in 2017?
Where were the pastors?
Where were the churches?
Where were the prayers?
Where were the meals?
Where were the embraces?
Where were the people who once taught me that Christians are called to stand beside those who are broken?
Instead, my family found ourselves largely alone.
Our home was destroyed.
Our lives were turned upside down.
My wife and I were separated the very next day.
Our family fractured under the weight of trauma.
Months passed.
No arrests.
No public suspects.
No meaningful updates.
No visible urgency.
It felt as though the attack had simply become another file on a shelf.
⚖️ “We Are Maimed and We Are Scarred”
Pastor McFaddin also said:
“Not the same life that it used to be. For now, in this life, we are maimed and we are scarred.”
Those words turned out to be prophetic.
Just not in the way I ever imagined.
Our lives have never been the same.
The house can be rebuilt.
Walls can be repaired.
Windows can be replaced.
Furniture can be purchased again.
But trauma leaves scars that no insurance company can restore.
The fear.
The sleepless nights.
The shattered sense of safety.
The damage to relationships.
The questions that never leave your mind.
Those things do not disappear.
James understood that in 2017.
I wonder whether he understands it today.
🚔 The Irony
There is another irony that is difficult for me to ignore.
Today, James McFaddin serves as an RCMP Chaplain.
The organization he now serves is the same organization that investigated—or perhaps more accurately, failed to meaningfully investigate—the attack on my family.
Months after the firebombing there were still no publicly identified suspects.
No arrests.
No meaningful public explanation.
No indication that the investigation had advanced in any significant way.
At least none that was communicated to us.
The same pastor who once urged a community to stand beside victims of tragedy now serves alongside the police agency investigating the tragedy that befell my own family.
That fact alone proves nothing.
But it is an irony that is difficult to overlook.
🤔 What Does Standing Beside Someone Really Mean?
James once preached that Christians are compelled to stand alongside those who suffer.
I believed him.
In fact, I tried to live that way myself.
I volunteered.
I mentored youth.
I helped families move.
I served the homeless.
My wife served on the church board.
We believed the Church was supposed to be different from the world.
Then our own tragedy arrived.
And I learned that sometimes the people who preach compassion are nowhere to be found when compassion is needed most.
✝️ Final Thoughts
I still believe what James said in 2017.
I believe communities should stand beside victims.
I believe Christians should comfort the brokenhearted.
I believe churches should bring warmth into the cold void created by tragedy.
I simply wish those words had been lived out when tragedy came to my own doorstep.
Because when my family needed our community the most…
The silence was deafening.
Perhaps that is the greatest tragedy of all.
Additional reading on James McFaddin’s .. you won’t believe it but it will all tie together:
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