The BC Green Party is calling on the Conservative Party of BC to remove a candidate for making inappropriate comments against Indigenous people.
Emily Lowan, leader of the BC Greens and candidate for Saanich North and the Islands wants BC Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson to remove Juan de Fuca-Malahat candidate Mike Hicks for allegedly harmful remarks.
At an all-candidates debate in Mill Bay, Hicks reportedly said to the crowd “The First Nations have to be conquered.”
Further, when the moderator called time, Hicks added “In law, we have to conquer or sign a treaty with the First Nations.”
“We just arrived, we settled in and we didn’t do any of it. And that’s why we have to have these treaties and we’re going to get them.”
Lowan and her party’s position is that these comments were problematic and Hicks should be removed from the BC Conservative slate for saying them.
“First Nations rights, title and treaties aren’t red tape standing in the way of the economy. They’re a matter of justice, recognition and respect,” said Lowan.
“To hear someone who wants to represent this riding say First Nations need to be ‘conquered’ is unacceptable. Saying settlers simply arrived and settled here erases a real history, and the harm that followed.”
She added that First Nations leaders shouldn’t have to carry the burden of standing up to defend their rights alone, and that her party stands with them.
David Evans, BC Greens candidate for Juan de Fuca-Malahat, says that he was in the room when Hicks made these remarks.
“Racist attitudes like this don’t belong in our community, in the Legislature, or anywhere,” said Evans.
He believes Hicks needs to make an apology.
Instead of issuing an apology, Hicks issued a statement on social media in which he said the remarks were taken out of context.
“In the short, out of context clip circulating, I was inartfully explaining how British Columbia got into its current situation of not having settled treaties, in a historical context,” wrote Hicks.
“I was not defending how things were handled back then—quite the opposite.”
Hicks continued by saying he was merely suggesting that modern treaties be developed with First Nations in BC.
The BC NDP have also called for Hicks to be removed from the BC Conservatives’ slate.
“When I heard BC Conservative candidate Mike Hicks say that First Nations ‘have to be conquered,’ I thought I must have heard wrong. Then he said it again,” said Dana Lajeunesse, BC NDP candidate for Juan de Fuca–Malahat.
“I was just as shocked as everyone else in the room.”
She added that Hicks’ attempts to explain away his comments miss the point, which is that the word ‘conquered’ carries a long and painful history for First Nations.
Hicks is just the latest member of the BC Conservatives to be called out for his conduct or remarks.
The party removed Wakeim (Wim) Agu, the BC Conservative candidate for Victoria-Beacon Hill after highly offensive social media posts and comments came to light.
Doerkson was also called out in the recent BC leaders’ debate over his campaign manager Katy Merrifield’s inappropriate conduct online, but she has retained her position with the party.
On Thursday, October 15th, the BC Conservatives also dropped Vancouver-Strathcona candidate Jordan McIntosh, who made posts regarding the Holocaust.
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