Selina Robinson, Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future, speaks at an announcement in Vancouver, on Thursday, July 20, 2023.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
B.C. Premier David Eby has removed a senior cabinet minister for saying Israel was founded on a “crappy piece of land.”
Selina Robinson will remain in the New Democratic Party caucus but has been dismissed as minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.
“Over the past few days, both Minister Robinson and myself have been reaching out to the many communities that have been harmed by the remarks made on a panel that she participated in,” Mr. Eby told reporters. He said it was a difficult decision, but “she screwed up.”
The premier initially resisted calls for Ms. Robinson’s resignation, but demands for her ouster continued to mount over the weekend, particularly with the Muslim community and First Nations leadership. The premier cancelled a scheduled news conference on housing policy in the morning, and announced what he described as a joint decision at a media availability in the afternoon at his cabinet offices in Vancouver.
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Ms. Robinson participated in Jan. 30 online discussion hosted by B’nai B’rith Canada, where she decried the lack understanding among younger people about the Holocaust and the origins of the state of Israel. “They have no connection to how it started, they don’t understand it was a crappy piece of land with nothing on it – there were several hundred thousand people, but other than that it didn’t produce an economy, it couldn’t grow things, it didn’t have anything on it,” she said.
Ms. Robinson initially apologized the next day, but said she was merely referring to the fact that the land has limited natural resources. That did not satisfy her critics, who continued to press for her dismissal from cabinet. More than a dozen British Columbia mosques and Islamic associations issued a joint statement saying that no NDP MLA or candidate for the coming provincial election will be welcome until Premier David Eby fires Ms. Robinson. Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh called her comments “offensive and irresponsible.”
On Monday morning, Ms. Robinson issued a statement promising to take anti-Islamophobia training, and said that she now understands that her remarks contributed to Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, and perpetuated harmful narratives of colonialism that caused pain to Indigenous communities. “I also know that there will be those who are not willing to speak with me. I have broken the trust of many, including friends and allies. It is fair for them to not want to engage with me, I know I will have to earn back their trust,” she wrote.
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Ms. Robinson was not present at the premier’s news conference. But while he spoke, she issued a second statement of the day, this time saying that she was stepping aside from cabinet. “While I had previously decided not to run again in the next election I remain committed to my constituents for the remainder of my term.”
Ms. Robinson’s suggestion that Palestine was an empty land, or terra nullius, before Jewish people settled it following the Holocaust was not only offensive, but historically inaccurate, according to an open letter calling for her resignation signed by three organizations of Palestinian-Canadian and Jewish Canadian university professors.
“Palestine had a thriving economy, as well as a complex network of trade and commerce which contributed to the economic vibrancy in the region prior to 1948,” states the letter from the coalition, which University of B.C. climate justice professor Naomi Klein announced she helped create. “Minister Robinson’s comments erase a colonized people’s history, perpetuating historically inaccurate and racist narratives intended to justify Israel’s colonial violence against the Palestinian people.”
The Israel-Hamas war has been a virtual minefield for Canadian politicians, especially among progressives. The Ontario NDP expelled an MPP from its caucus in October for expressing support for Palestinians. Sarah Jama condemned Israel as an “apartheid” state for its “collective punishment” of Gazans and said that pro-peace and pro-Palestinian voices were being silenced angered Jewish groups.
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Others have weathered the backlash from wading into the conflict since Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7.
Victoria city councillor Susan Kim co-signed an open letter criticizing Mr. Singh, claiming he “repeated the unverified accusation that Palestinians were guilty of sexual violence” in the Hamas attacks. Mayor Marianne Alto declined to comment or address it in council, saying it would be up to voters to decide in the next election whether Ms. Kim should be re-elected. Ms. Kim has since asked to have her name removed from the letter.
