The Okanagan Nation Alliance is calling on B.C. Conservative Party Leader John Rustad to remove Marina Sapozhnikov from the party following racist remarks in an election night interview.
As first reported by the Vancouver Sun, Sapozhnikov, the party's candidate for Juan de Fuca Malahat, is said to have made the comment to Vancouver Island University student Alyona Latsinnik.
“They didn’t have any sophisticated laws," Sapozhnikov said in an audio clip available on the newspaper's site. "They were savages. They fought each other all the time.”
Chief Clarence Louie, Tribal Chair of the Syilx Okanagan Nation, issued a statement on Oct. 27.
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.
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.
Rustad said in a statement that Sapozhnikov’s comments "appalled and deeply saddened” him. He said her “remarks do not reflect the values of our party or the vision we have for a united British Columbia, and we are taking this matter seriously.”
Rustad added that Sapozhnikov's comments "are not only inaccurate but profoundly harmful" and paint a "distorted picture of the communities I have worked alongside for many years."
Sapozhnikov trails the NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse by 106 votes as of 10 a.m. on Oct. 27 as Elections BC counts the remaining ballots in the Oct. 19 provincial election.
