By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
The Syilx Okanagan Nation has added its voice to the outcry against racist comments uttered by the BC Conservative candidate for the hotly contested riding of Juan de Fuca-Malahat, Marina Sapozhnikov.
“We join other voices, Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, in condemning the abhorrent and racist comments,” made by Sapozhnikov, said Chief Clarence Louie, Tribal Chair of the Syilx Okanagan Nation.
The comments were made during an election night interview by a Vancouver Island University student who later passed the nearly one hour long interview to Post Media.
According to a Vancouver Sun report Sapozknikov declared that pre-European contact First Nations peoples “didn’t have any sophisticated laws. They were savages. They fought each other all the time”.
She also expressed opposition to the way Indigenous history courses were taught in BC universities and said BC’s adoption of the United Nations Declaration of Rights of the Indigenous Peoples Act made non-indigenous people second class citizens. She also spuriously claimed that 90 per cent of Indigenous people use drugs.
“These ignorant and hateful comments, which constitute a form of hate speech, have no place in our society. We call on BC Conservative Leader, John Rustad, to immediately take a clear and strong stand against hate and racism, by removing her from his political party,” Louie said.
Rustad has said his party is taking the matter seriously and that her comments do not reflect the values of the party.
Louie went on to highlight that Indigenous Nations are the first peoples and the original rights and title holders of this province, as recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada.
“We have been here since time immemorial and we have survived the racist and colonial views and actions of people like Ms. Sapozhnikov, whose comments show the true depth of her own ignorance of both history and the contemporary reality of our province.”
“Would-be politicians who hold and espouse racist and backward views, should be immediately disqualified by their party leaders, based on the understanding that such views and comments are hateful and hurtful to Indigenous people, and completely undermine any kind of government-to-government relationship between provincial leaders and the Indigenous Nations on whose land and good graces this province depends,” Louie added.
Rustad’s comments are insufficient according to First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) Grand Chief Stewart Phillip.
“It is very telling that Rustad has refused to take swift and meaningful action in response to these racist and hateful comments. Merely stating that he condemns Sapozhnikov’s comments has no mitigating effect whatsoever to the harm her comments cause,” he said.
“Sapozhnikov’s comments are atrocious and represent gross stereotypes that dehumanize First Nation people and diminish and marginalize First Nations’ voices and truths about their complex societies and systems of governance, trade and conflict resolution.”
Terry Teegee, Regional Chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations added that, “We have seen an alarming pattern of derogatory comments by members of the BC Conservatives.
He says Rustad has shown a “complete lack of leadership” in not responding more clearly to racist commentary by some of the BC Conservative Party candidates in the election. “A true leader would have taken swift and decisive measures to deal with the problem,” he observed.
“John Rustad needs to draw a line now. Does he support division, racism, and hate? Will he allow Sapozhnikov to poison his caucus and eliminate any hope of his party working constructively with First Nations in BC?” asked Teegee.
“By not dumping this toxic, shameful candidate already he is clearly more interested in power than maintaining his integrity and standing on his purported values and principles. His inaction will mute any apology he may offer and will unfortunately be a telltale sign to all British Columbians of the true priorities of the BC Conservative Party,” he continued.
This is not the first brush with racism for Rustad and his nascently resurrected Conservative Party of BC with two other candidates making racist statements.
Conservative party Surrey South candidate Brent Chapman came under fire for Islamophobic Facebook posts made in 2015 where he referred to Palestinians as “little inbred walking talking breathing time bombs … figuratively and quite literally.” He also made multiple references to “Muslim inbreeding” and commented Canadians cannot “live with them, Islam.”
His comments appeared to have not deterred Surrey South voters however, with Chapman getting elected with nearly 59 per cent of the vote. Chapman is married to Kerry-Lynne Findlay, federal Conservative MP for South Surrey-White Rock.
And Dallas Brodie who similarly won her riding in Vancouver-Quilchena despite racist remarks and even a doubling down during an all-candidates meeting on comments she had made in 2020 on First Nations people living in the Downtown Eastside.
She said that First Nations bands bore a responsibility to look after their “own” people and referred to the impoverished neighbourhoood as a dumping ground.
In both these cases, similar to the latest involving Sapozknikov, Rustad issued statements condemning the comments but has not called on anyone to step down.
After a recount and a tally of mail-in and absentee ballots, Elections BC announced on Monday (Oct 28) that BC NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse was elected in the Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding defeating Sapozhnikov by 141 votes.
