CASTLEGAR, BC — WITAF IS GOING ON IN THIS TOWN?!
Betsy Kline (Castlegar News editor), Maria McFaddin (outgoing mayor), Nathan Dalla Lana (Christina Lake physician and the mayor’s brother), the controversial Pioneer Arena redevelopment, a disturbing firearms incident involving teenagers on a school camp-out, multiple suspicious fires, Molotov cocktail attacks on occupied family homes, and serious questions about policing, journalism and public accountability.
One small town. A remarkable number of overlapping stories, relationships and unanswered questions.
Are these simply separate events in a close-knit community, or are there important connections that haven’t been properly examined or explained?
Black Sheep is connecting the documented dots, separating facts from allegations and asking the questions that deserve answers.
Because seriously — WITAF is going on in Castlegar, British Columbia?!
October 26, 2026 | Black Sheep Investigations
What happens when a small community’s newspaper reports on individual events but fails to bring together information already published in its own archives?
What happens when the same newspaper reports on a mayor, her brother, a controversial municipal development and criminal charges, yet leaves readers to discover the relationships for themselves?
These are the questions I am putting to Betsy Kline, editor of Castlegar News, and the newspaper she has led since 2020.
This investigation brings together several stories involving outgoing Castlegar mayor Maria McFaddin, her brother Dr. Nathan Gordon Dalla Lana, the Pioneer Arena redevelopment, public safety incidents, and the reporting decisions of Castlegar News.
I also have a personal connection to this story.
Maria McFaddin and her husband, James, were pastors at New Life Church during approximately 2016–2020, when my wife and I were heavily involved with the church. I knew them personally, long before many of these events appeared in the news.
My family’s home was subsequently firebombed on January 22, 2026. That experience gives me a particular interest in Castlegar’s history of fires, public safety and police accountability.
I am not alleging that these events were coordinated or that the individuals named were involved in the attack on my home. The purpose of connecting these records is to identify relationships, examine public decisions and ask questions that the available reporting has not fully answered.
And one discovery stands out above the others:
Castlegar News publicly identified Nathan Dalla Lana as Mayor Maria McFaddin’s brother in March 2024 — more than two and a half years before its October 2026 coverage of the criminal charges against him.
1. The Nathan Dalla Lana Sexual Assault Charges — October 22, 2026
On October 22, 2026, regional news outlets reported that Dr. Nathan Gordon Dalla Lana, a physician practising in Christina Lake and Grand Forks, had been charged with two counts of sexual assault arising from alleged incidents in Grand Forks.
These are allegations, not findings of guilt. Dalla Lana is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Original reporting:
Castlegar News — Christina Lake doctor charged with Grand Forks sexual assault (October 22, 2026)
Trail Times — Christina Lake doctor charged with Grand Forks sexual assault (October 22, 2026)
The coverage we examined identified the accused physician and the charges, but did not mention his relationship to Castlegar’s outgoing mayor.
Nathan Dalla Lana is Maria McFaddin’s brother.
This is not speculation. McFaddin confirmed the relationship during a March 4, 2024 Castlegar City Council meeting, as subsequently documented by Castlegar News itself.
There is also a political financial connection: Elections BC’s published 2018 campaign finance disclosure lists a $500 contribution from Nathan Dalla Lana to Maria McFaddin’s municipal election campaign.
Read the Elections BC campaign finance disclosure
Neither the family relationship nor the contribution implies wrongdoing or has any established connection to the criminal allegations.
Nor does reporting criminal charges against an adult automatically require identifying that person’s relatives.
But there is a legitimate question about what context Castlegar News considered relevant, particularly given its earlier reporting on this same family relationship in connection with a municipal development controversy.
And that brings us to Pioneer Arena.
2. Pioneer Arena: The Council Meeting That Put the Family Relationship on the Record
The proposed demolition and redevelopment of Castlegar’s historic Pioneer Arena generated considerable controversy.
The original redevelopment concept included affordable housing and medical facilities intended to improve access to healthcare.
On October 24, 2023, the City of Castlegar announced a memorandum of understanding to pursue healthcare facilities and 45 new housing units.
City of Castlegar — Memorandum of understanding for healthcare and housing (October 24, 2023)
But during the March 4, 2024 council meeting, Castlegar resident Richard Switzer raised questions about Mayor McFaddin’s family relationship and the proposed healthcare development.
On March 21, 2024, Castlegar News published an editorial about the exchange.
The headline was:
Castlegar News — EDITORIAL: Castlegar mayor asked questionable questions (March 21, 2024)
The editorial was attributed to Staff reports, rather than an individually named journalist.
According to the article, Switzer asked about McFaddin’s maiden name, whether Nathan Dalla Lana was her brother, and his occupation and place of work.
McFaddin confirmed that Nathan was her brother and that he practised medicine in Christina Lake and Grand Forks.
Switzer then asked whether the mayor had made an arrangement for Nathan to relocate his medical practice to Castlegar if the proposed clinic was built.
McFaddin denied any such arrangement, stated that her brother had no intention of relocating his practice, and said neither she nor her family would benefit from the project.
The newspaper criticized Switzer’s personal questions and characterized the allegations as unsubstantiated gossip, while acknowledging that questions about potential conflicts of interest are legitimate.
To be clear, the allegation of a private arrangement was not established by the council exchange. The mayor expressly denied it.
Nevertheless, the editorial confirms three important facts about the newspaper’s published coverage:
- Castlegar News had publicly identified Nathan Dalla Lana as Maria McFaddin’s brother.
- The newspaper knew he was a physician practising in Christina Lake and Grand Forks.
- It had reported questions about whether he might benefit from the proposed Pioneer Arena medical development, together with the mayor’s denial.
The significance is not that the editorial proves a conflict of interest. It does not.
The significance is that the family relationship was already in the newspaper’s own archive.
What happened to the development?
The redevelopment subsequently evolved.
By February 2025, the city reported that the healthcare and housing components had been separated into different proposed buildings, with funding for the medical component still outstanding.
In July 2025, the city announced further preparations for a housing development at the former arena site involving BC Housing and Lu’ma Developments.
City of Castlegar — Housing Project at 925 Columbia Avenue: Next Steps (July 30, 2025)
The records reviewed do not establish that Nathan Dalla Lana became a prospective tenant, entered into an agreement, or received any financial benefit.
Those details would require council records, development correspondence or other documentary evidence.
The unanswered editorial question
Betsy Kline has served as editor of Castlegar News since 2020. The March 2024 editorial was published under Staff reports, and its individual author has not been established.
The October 2026 criminal-charge article’s individual authorship also remains unverified in this review.
So why did the newspaper publish the family relationship in March 2024 but not include it in the October 2026 criminal-charge coverage?
Was the relationship considered irrelevant to the later story? Was the earlier editorial consulted? Who made that decision?
There may be a sound editorial explanation, but it is reasonable to ask the newspaper to provide one.
3. Castlegar’s Fires: A History That Deserves Follow-Up
Fire is not an abstract subject for my family.
On January 22, 2026, our Castlegar home was deliberately attacked with incendiary devices while my daughter and I were inside.
The RCMP subsequently issued a public release describing a man setting fire to a fuel can on the porch and throwing a Molotov cocktail through a window. Police sought information about two suspicious men and a vehicle of interest.
RCMP — Police investigate residential arson (January 23, 2026)
I attempted to extinguish the fires and was subsequently hospitalized.
But Castlegar’s history of dangerous fires predates the attack on our home.
Canada Day 2021 — The Merry Creek Wildfire
On July 1, 2021, the human-caused Merry Creek Wildfire threatened Castlegar, prompting evacuations and serious concern for surrounding neighbourhoods.
Betsy Kline covered the fire and the community’s response.
I understand that Nathan Dalla Lana owned substantial acreage in the affected area. The property’s ownership, precise boundaries and extent of any fire damage have not yet been independently verified.
A human-caused wildfire is not necessarily an intentionally set fire, and there is no established connection between Merry Creek and the later arson incidents.
December 5, 2023 — Mayor Maria McFaddin Demands Provincial Action on Castlegar’s Arson Crisis
Here is another disturbing chapter in Castlegar’s history. On December 5, 2023, Mayor Maria McFaddin asked Castlegar City Council to endorse a letter to Mike Farnworth, then B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and Niki Sharma, then Attorney General, expressing serious concerns about the absence of Crown-approved arson charges despite an alarming number of suspicious and deliberately set fires throughout the community.
Can you freaking believe what you’re reading? Because I certainly can’t!
Castlegar’s arson problem had become so serious that the mayor was calling on the province’s highest public-safety and justice officials to intervene. WITAF was happening in Castlegar?!
And here’s what makes this so deeply disturbing to me.
In September 2023, an occupied Castlegar home was attacked with incendiary devices while a father and his 10-year-old son were inside.
Then, just over two years later, on January 22, 2026, our family home was firebombed in broad daylight while my daughter and I were inside. I ended up in hospital.
Two occupied family homes. Two incendiary attacks. The same small community. And a mayor who had already raised the alarm about Castlegar’s arson crisis with the provincial government.
Is anyone at the RCMP examining whether these attacks could be connected? Has anyone compared the evidence, methods, circumstances and investigative findings?
I’m not claiming these attacks were committed by the same individuals. That remains to be established. But surely the possibility deserves examination.
WITAF is going on in Castlegar?! Are we dealing with unrelated attacks, or is there a pattern of residential firebombings that investigators need to examine more closely? Is there a serial firebomber in this town?!
And perhaps the most important question of all: What actually happened after Mayor McFaddin raised the alarm in December 2023? What did the province, Crown prosecutors and RCMP do to address the problem before another occupied family home — ours — was firebombed?
Because from where I’m sitting, those are questions that deserve answers. Not another press release. Not another reassurance. Actual answers.
McFaddin wanted provincial authorities to examine the situation and identify solutions to restore public confidence and community safety. Think about that: Castlegar’s mayor was publicly calling for provincial intervention over the city’s arson problem in December 2023. Then, on January 22, 2026, my own family home was firebombed while my daughter and I were inside. This raises a serious public-accountability question: What action did the province, Crown prosecutors and RCMP take following the mayor’s 2023 request, and what measurable improvements resulted? I am not suggesting the earlier fires and the attack on my home were connected. I am asking whether the warnings were acted upon and whether Castlegar residents received the protection and accountability their elected officials had requested.
December 2023 — Castlegar’s Arson Problem Makes Headlines
On December 27, 2023, Betsy Kline published a year-in-review report describing the city’s extraordinary number of suspicious fires.
The report stated that, by mid-December, the Castlegar Fire Department had submitted 62 fire reports, of which 44 were considered suspicious, deliberately set or arson.
That amounted to approximately 71 per cent.
One particularly serious incident occurred on September 12, 2023, when a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an occupied Castlegar home. A father and his 10-year-old son escaped with help from alert neighbours.
Mayor McFaddin subsequently urged provincial officials to examine the absence of Crown-approved arson charges and the resulting concerns about public confidence and safety.
Two years later, my own family experienced a residential firebombing.
I am not suggesting that the 2021 wildfire (well yes I am actually lol not lol), the 2023 fires and the 2026 attack were committed by the same people or were part of one coordinated series. No such connection has been established.
What I want to know is what happened after the public warnings, whether investigations produced results, and whether the media continued asking those questions.
4. The June 2025 Rural-Property Firearms Incident
Another public-safety incident deserves attention. This is actually just … a totally fucked up story actually. I am just going ot say that because it involves guns and kids having fun after graduation.
On July 16, 2025, Castlegar RCMP released details of a disturbing June 18 incident involving teenagers participating in an overnight wilderness camp on rural property near Castlegar.
Now, who do you suppose owned that property?! Hmmmm… One guess!
But wait. Before I reveal who I believe owned it, here’s something interesting: neither the RCMP news release nor the reporting I’ve examined identifies the property owners.
And who issued the RCMP release? Sgt. Monty Taylor of the Castlegar RCMP Detachment.
Now here’s where another connection comes into the picture.
I understand that James McFaddin, husband of then-Mayor Maria McFaddin, served as an RCMP chaplain associated with the detachment.
And I have reason to believe the property involved belonged to the McFaddins.
Oops… did I just give away the connection?!
If the property ownership and chaplaincy relationship are confirmed, that raises questions worth answering: Did the investigating officers know about those relationships? Were any potential conflicts assessed? And what was the outcome of the investigation?
To be clear, the publicly available RCMP release does not establish who owned the property, and I have not independently verified James McFaddin’s chaplaincy dates or any involvement in the investigation. Nor is there evidence here that Sgt. Taylor acted improperly.
But given the seriousness of a complaint involving teenagers, gunshots and reported damage consistent with a bullet strike, I would certainly like to know what happened next. Wouldn’t you?
RCMP — Firearms complaint (July 16, 2025)
https://rcmp.ca/en/bc/castlegar/news/2025/07/firearms-complaint
And Here Comes Betsy Kline and Castlegar News — Again!
And wouldn’t you know it? Castlegar News covered this incident too!
On July 16, 2025, the newspaper published an article titled:
Now, here’s where things get interesting.
Who owned the property where this frightening incident allegedly occurred?
I believe it belonged to James and Maria McFaddin — Castlegar’s then-mayor and her husband, whom I understand served as a chaplain associated with the Castlegar RCMP.
Yet neither the RCMP release nor the reporting I’ve examined identifies the property owners.
And here we have another Castlegar News story involving a potentially relevant connection that readers were not given.
Now, before anyone gets too excited, the property ownership and James McFaddin’s chaplaincy role at the relevant time still need independent documentary confirmation. I also have not verified the article’s individual byline.
But if those relationships are confirmed, I have some questions.
Did Castlegar News know who owned the property? Did the RCMP know? Was the relationship relevant to the investigation? And what ultimately happened to the firearms complaint?
I would genuinely like to hear the answers.
Because reporting what happened is one thing. Establishing the relevant facts, following up and explaining the context is another.
And that is precisely what Black Sheep is trying to establish.
According to the police release, the teenagers reported hearing two gunshots before encountering a man carrying a long-barrelled firearm.
Police stated that the man did not point the firearm at the group or threaten them with violence, but asked them to leave the property.
The teenagers subsequently reported damage to camping equipment. Police observed damage to a pack consistent with a gunshot.
The man and his partner denied causing the damage and said a firearm had been discharged toward a bear.
The RCMP requested information from the public.
I believe..well actually I know the property involved belonged to James and Maria McFaddin... the RCMP chaplain and the Mayor, respectively, at the time.
However, the public RCMP release does not identify the property owners or the people involved. I have not independently verified the ownership or their involvement.
I also understand James McFaddin to have served as an RCMP chaplain, although the exact dates and nature of that role still require documentary confirmation.
If those relationships are confirmed, it would be reasonable to ask whether any relevant conflict-management or investigative procedures were necessary and followed.
It would not, by itself, establish police interference, improper influence or preferential treatment.
The central questions are who owned the property, what happened to the complaint, and what investigative conclusions were reached.
5. Maria McFaddin’s Departure from City Hall
Maria McFaddin is leaving the mayor’s office after deciding not to seek another term.
In September 2026, Forestry Works for BC announced her appointment as executive director.
Forestry Works for BC — New Executive Director Announcement (September 2026)
The executive-director position had been advertised with a compensation range of approximately $125,000 to $185,000 annually, including potential performance-based compensation. I am pretty sure the Mayoral job only pays $45,000 per year so that is a very significant pay raise like three times if she received the mid!! FYI – That advertised range does not establish her actual salary but still.
Forestry Works for BC is an industry-oriented nonprofit organization, not the provincial Ministry of Forests.
There is nothing inherently improper about a former mayor accepting an executive role.
However, the organization’s funding, governance and appointment process are legitimate matters for public examination, particularly where public policy and industry advocacy intersect.
No evidence reviewed here establishes that the appointment was improper or connected to any of the other events discussed in this investigation.
6. Betsy Kline and the Responsibility of Local Journalism
Betsy Kline’s published biography states that she joined the Castlegar News editorial team in 2015 and became editor in 2020.
Her reporting has covered local government, public spending, community infrastructure, fires, crime and Mayor McFaddin’s public statements.
For example:
Castlegar News — Brandson Park feedback identifies priorities (August 20, 2024)
There is no question that Kline has covered McFaddin and Castlegar’s municipal affairs extensively.
There is also no question that Castlegar News published the McFaddin–Dalla Lana sibling relationship in March 2024.
But a newspaper having previously published a fact is not proof that an individual editor deliberately omitted it from a later article.
The March 2024 editorial’s Staff reports byline does not establish who wrote or approved it. Editorials may be published as the institutional position of a newspaper rather than under an individual journalist’s name.
The October 2026 article also concerned criminal allegations against an adult who was not himself the mayor. The decision not to identify his sister could have reflected an editorial judgment about relevance and privacy.
That explanation deserves consideration alongside the question of whether the earlier Pioneer Arena reporting provided context that readers should have been given.
The evidence supports asking questions about editorial consistency. It does not establish intentional deception, protection of the mayor’s office or participation in wrongdoing.
Questions for Betsy Kline and Castlegar News
I would welcome direct answers to the following:
- Who wrote and approved the March 21, 2024 editorial about Mayor McFaddin and Nathan Dalla Lana?
- Who wrote and edited the October 22, 2026 criminal-charge article?
- Did the newsroom consider its own March 2024 editorial when preparing the October 2026 report?
- Was the family relationship deliberately excluded as irrelevant, or was the earlier reporting not consulted?
- What editorial standards does Castlegar News apply when reporting family relationships involving public officials?
- Has the newspaper examined the outcome of the Pioneer Arena healthcare proposal and the questions raised at council?
- What follow-up reporting has been undertaken on Castlegar’s 2023 residential arson and the June 2025 firearms complaint?
These are questions about the completeness and consistency of public-interest reporting, not accusations of criminal conduct.
7. BLACK SHEEP CONNECTS THE DOTS!!
One Small Community. Multiple Connections. A Timeline of Questions That Deserve Answers.
Let’s put the dates, names and events together so readers can see the chronology for themselves.
- 2016–2020 | The Church Connection. James and Maria McFaddin served as pastors at New Life Church in Castlegar, where my wife and I were heavily involved. This is a relationship I know firsthand.
- 2018 | The Political and Family Connection. Nathan Dalla Lana contributed $500 to Maria McFaddin’s municipal election campaign, according to Elections BC’s financial disclosure records. Nathan is Maria’s brother, a relationship she later publicly confirmed.
- July 1, 2021 | Castlegar’s Canada Day Wildfire. The human-caused Merry Creek Wildfire threatened Castlegar, prompting evacuations. I understand that Nathan Dalla Lana owned approximately 300 acres of land in the affected area. The property ownership and extent of damage still require independent verification. A human-caused wildfire is not necessarily arson.
- 2022 | Maria McFaddin Becomes Mayor. McFaddin was elected mayor of Castlegar, placing her in a position of municipal leadership during subsequent redevelopment and public-safety controversies.
- 2023 | Pioneer Arena Redevelopment Proposed. The city advanced a proposal to replace Pioneer Arena with housing and medical facilities. The proposal attracted public controversy over the loss of the arena and the future use of the property.
- September 12, 2023 | Molotov Cocktail Attack on an Occupied Home. A father and his 10-year-old son escaped an incendiary attack on their Castlegar residence. The RCMP investigated under file 2023-2888.
- December 2023 | Castlegar’s Arson Problem. Betsy Kline reported that 44 of 62 fires recorded by mid-December had been classified as suspicious, deliberately set or arson. Mayor McFaddin sought provincial attention to the problem.Castlegar News — “YEAR IN REVIEW: Arson fires plague Castlegar throughout the year”
- March 4, 2024 | The Pioneer Arena Council Confrontation. Resident Richard Switzer questioned Mayor McFaddin about her brother Nathan Dalla Lana, his medical practice and an alleged arrangement to relocate that practice to the proposed medical development. McFaddin confirmed the family relationship but categorically denied any such agreement or family benefit.
- March 21, 2024 | Castlegar News Publishes the Family Connection. An editorial published under Staff reports criticized Switzer’s questions while explicitly reporting that Nathan Dalla Lana was the mayor’s brother and a physician practising in Christina Lake and Grand Forks.This establishes that Castlegar News had publicly reported the sibling relationship more than two years before the October 2026 criminal-charge coverage.Castlegar News — “EDITORIAL: Castlegar mayor asked questionable questions”
- February–July 2025 | Pioneer Arena Plans Change. The proposed healthcare and housing components were separated. By July, the city was preparing to proceed with demolition for a housing development involving BC Housing and Lu’ma Developments. No evidence reviewed establishes that Nathan Dalla Lana received a tenancy, contract or financial benefit.City of Castlegar — “Housing Project at 925 Columbia Avenue: Next Steps”
- June 18, 2025 | The Rural-Property Firearms Incident. Teenagers camping near Castlegar reported gunshots and an encounter with a man carrying a firearm. Police subsequently observed damage to camping equipment consistent with a gunshot. The man and his partner denied shooting the equipment and said a firearm had been discharged toward a bear.I believe the property may have belonged to James and Maria McFaddin, but ownership and the identities of those involved have not been independently established.RCMP — “Firearms complaint” (July 16, 2025)
- 2025 | The RCMP Chaplaincy Connection. My understanding is that James McFaddin served as an RCMP chaplain. His exact role and service dates still require confirmation. That relationship alone would not establish any involvement in, or influence over, a police investigation.
- January 22, 2026 | Our Family Home Is Firebombed. Two masked individuals attacked our Castlegar home. My daughter and I were inside, and I was subsequently hospitalized. The RCMP described the incident as a targeted attack. No evidence presented here establishes a connection between this attack and the earlier fires or the individuals discussed in this article.
- September 14, 2026 | Maria McFaddin’s New Position. Forestry Works for BC announced McFaddin’s appointment as executive director. The position had been advertised with a compensation range of $125,000–$185,000, although her actual compensation has not been verified. The organization is not the provincial Ministry of Forests.Forestry Works for BC — Announcement of Maria McFaddin as Executive Director
- October 22, 2026 | Nathan Dalla Lana’s Criminal Charges Reported. Regional newspapers reported that Dr. Nathan Gordon Dalla Lana faced two sexual assault charges relating to alleged incidents in Grand Forks.The allegations remain unproven, and Dalla Lana is presumed innocent.The reporting examined did not identify him as Maria McFaddin’s brother, despite Castlegar News having previously published that relationship.Castlegar News — “Christina Lake doctor charged with Grand Forks sexual assault”
- October 26, 2026 | Black Sheep Examines the Reporting. The two Castlegar News articles can now be compared directly. The 2024 editorial establishes the newspaper’s previous publication of the family relationship. The 2026 report raises a question about whether that relationship was considered relevant to the later story.Betsy Kline has served as editor since 2020, but the evidence reviewed does not establish that she personally wrote either article or deliberately omitted the relationship.
THE QUESTIONS THAT REMAIN
The family relationship is documented. The council exchange is documented. The newspaper’s earlier publication of that relationship is documented.
Other connections remain unverified, and several events have no demonstrated causal relationship.
What still deserves examination?
- Who authored or approved the March 21, 2024 editorial?
- Why was the previously reported family relationship absent from the October 2026 criminal-charge coverage?
- Was Nathan Dalla Lana ever formally involved in the Pioneer Arena medical proposal?
- Were any applicable municipal conflict-of-interest disclosures required or made?
- Who owned the property involved in the June 2025 firearms incident, and what was the investigative outcome?
- What actions followed Castlegar’s 2023 arson crisis, and what lessons were applied to later residential attacks?
- What records establish the relevant RCMP chaplaincy role and any potential conflict-management procedures?
THE BLACK SHEEP BOTTOM LINE
A connection is not proof of a conspiracy. An omission is not automatically evidence of deception. And an allegation is not an established fact.
But public records can be compared, reporting decisions can be questioned, and public officials can be asked to explain their actions.
The most concrete unanswered issue in this investigation is the newspaper’s editorial decision: Castlegar News reported the McFaddin–Dalla Lana sibling relationship in March 2024, yet that relationship was absent from the October 2026 criminal-charge coverage examined here.
Whether the omission was justified, inadvertent or the result of an editorial decision is not yet known.
Black Sheep connects the documented dots — and asks for evidence before drawing the lines that remain unproven.
Publication and evidence notice: This article incorporates public reporting, official releases and the author’s firsthand account. Unverified property ownership, professional relationships and potential financial interests are expressly identified as matters requiring confirmation. The criminal allegations against Nathan Dalla Lana have not been proven in court. No allegation of coordinated arson, police interference, editorial corruption or deliberate concealment is presented as an established fact.
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