NDP Supporters for Minister Robinson's Removal

Sign This Petition

Please select ANY that apply to your relationship to the NDP in the last 10 yrs- This is important for us to show the Provincial Council the depth and credibility of those calling for action. * Voted NDP Donated to NDP Volunteered for NDP Held/Hold Internal Elected Position Was an NDP Candidate(MP, MLA, MPP) Elected Official (MP,MLA,MPP)
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NDP Supporters for Minister Robinson's Removal

BC NDP Provincial Council

On January 30th, 2024, in her role as BCNDP Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, Selina Robinson made inaccurate, dangerous, and racist comments in an online panel discussion hosted by B’nai Brith Canada. She said that when the modern state of Israel was founded in Palestine, it was just “a crappy piece of land with nothing on it,” except several hundred thousand (Palestinian) people.

These statements reflect the colonial principle of terra nullius, a concept now widely recognized to contain genocidal intent. Her disregard for the lives of Palestinian people in her statements is particularly troubling, during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. She has caused great harm to not just Palestinian Canadians but any diaspora of Canadians affected by displacement at the hands of colonial regimes. She also made an inappropriate comparison of the Israel-Palestine conflict to a land dispute between two Indigenous nations here in B.C. In the course of it, she made another racist statement, calling non-Indigenous British Columbians "regular people".

Minister Robinson’s January 30th comments are not just “disrespectful” and “flippant” as she described them in her follow-up statement. These are colonial, Islamophobic, xenophobic, and anti-Palestinian statements that reflect a larger pattern of behaviour and speech.

She has publicly cited information from sources such has PragerU, a right-wing organization that has promoted (among other unacceptable ideas) a justification of the transatlantic slave trade within content targeted towards K-12 students. She has also been accused by the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators (FPSE) and the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) of wrongfully intervening in the firing of a tenured professor.

Despite calls for her resignation/removal from cabinet by CAUT and FPSE and in defiance of outcry from federal NDP MP's including leader Jagmeet Singh, Premier Eby has given no indication that there will be any consequence other than that she has "a lot of work to do to rebuild relationships".

In the absence of real action taken by the leadership that is consistent with our party's stated values it is up to the internal mechanisms of our party to uphold said values and in particular to hear from and take guidance from the membership. Delegates to the BC NDP Provincial Council are seeking an emergency meeting to vote on potential reprimands that fall under their jurisdiction. Failing an emergency meeting resolutions will be put forward at the March Provincial Council Meeting.

Please sign and support the petition to demonstrate to provincial council delegates, MLA's, and party staff that while Minister Robinson presents a moral problem of epic proportions, she also represents a political liability that damages the moral standing of our party from coast to coast.

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Grassroots Rising//L'essor de la base

To: BC NDP Provincial Council
From: [Your Name]

We support any and all measures within your jurisdiction be taken to remove Selina Robinson from her Cabinet position, Caucus, and even the party as a whole should you choose on the basis that:

Minister Robinson's comments and patterned behaviour demonstrates a disregard for BC NDP stated values of anti-racism and an incoherence with the BC NDP’s stated support for UNDRIP, Indigenous rights and the process of Truth and Reconciliation.

Minster Robinson's continued tenure as Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills, particularly at a time when hateful attacks against Jewish and Muslim students is on the rise, contributes to a lack of safety and well being for Palestinian youth and their allies in educational spaces and for Palestinian, Arab people as well as those who stand alongside them in opposition to genocide in all civic spaces.

Minister Robinson’s repeated comments and the Premier’s unwillingness to fully address them, undermine public and NDP members trust in and support for the party and the BC government. It should be noted that the actual community affected by Minister Robinson’s pattern of words and actions, has already led to a coalition of BC mosques to, in a February 2nd letter written to the Premier, state that “until (Robinson resigns), we will not be engaging in dialogue or welcoming any NDP MLAs or candidates into our sacred spaces.” This is a clear sign of erosion of trust in the BC NDP by a marginalized, vulnerable group. If the broader BCNDP wants to continue to work with the Muslim and Arab community, and wants to rebuild trust with the community, the community has made the next step (of removing Selina Robinson from her position) clear.

It should be noted that there is an election coming and we have an example in recent NDP history where the Ontario NDP expulsion of Sara Jama for SUPPORTING Palestinians led to an embarrassing loss for the party in the ensuing by-election in Kitchener Center. Despite a fully resourced centralized campaign and popular candidate the ONDP lost a strong hold riding by 5000 votes to the Greens. The party has gambled and lost on the wrong liability before and we urge them not repeat history. You simply cannot out-fundraise or out-campaign a lack of moral clarity in progressive politics.

Whatever you decide as a body there must be serious and imminent consequences for Minister Robinson.