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The confirmation came promptly. She printed it.

It was a two-hour trip from Shawville and she and her husband booked a hotel to stay for the evening event and the Tuesday sessions. (Her husband was not attending the event.)

When she got to the check-in area, her name was on the list but there was no badge waiting. The woman on the desk went to check, and Andrew said that’s when a man came out and told both her and Miller they could not come in. She says the man was from an organization called the Canadian Foundation for Cross-Cultural Dialogue.

Andrew says he told her: “It’s invitation only,” though the website did not say this. (The website for the event no longer shows information on how to register.)

She pulled out her confirmation, “and then excuses started: Well, it’s by invitations, it’s a private event. And I’m wondering whether it’s because of the name of the group.”

The president of her group was also turned away at first, but was allowed in later, she said. Andrew said she saw no one else being turned away. “We were the only ones.”

“They said if you have a complaint, you can send it to the government,” she said. So that’s what she did; the pair had a meeting with the staff of their Liberal MP, Will Amos, Monday afternoon.

Miller said organizers had emailed them late Sunday night and told them not to come — a fact that he and Andrew didn’t realize until Monday.

He said organizers told them there wasn’t enough space for them — so they shot some photos through a glass wall showing empty space in the symposium, and that is when NAC security told them to leave.