Westshore candidate's anti-Indigenous comments emerge amid final vote count

Conservative Marina Sapozhnikov is facing condemnation, even from within her own party, for derogatory statements toward Indigenous Peoples and history—including calling First Nations “savages.” The comments were made, unprompted, to a VIU journalism student who was following Sapozhnikov's election night, and interviewing her, for a class assignment. The recording by Alyona Latsinnik was first shared with the Vancouver Sun, and later with other media.

Sapozhnikov, a Cobble Hill doctor born in Ukraine (part of the USSR at the time), made unexpected inroads into what has mainly been NDP territory. She remains locked in one of the closest races of a BC election in which the NDP & Conservatives are nearly tied and in which a recount is ongoing.

[UPDATE: The NDP's Dana Lajeunesse has defeated Sapozhnikov by 141 votes, following final vote tally and a recount, as of Monday night.]

Multiple denigrating comments, unprompted 

During a long conversation, Sapozhnikov learned Latsinnik was majoring in Indigenous Studies and said that the field was “all a lie" to present historical Indigenous Peoples as “some enlightened people.” She insisted they were instead “very simple," didn't have “any sophisticated laws,” and were “savages [who] fought each other all the time”—using a term often seen as a slur. Latsinnik pushed back, pointing out that warring was frequent in Europe at the same time.

Sapozhnikov later walked back to only “90% savages" and later told Postmedia that she didn't think current-day Indigenous residents were savages. She doubled down, in the Sun interview, on insisting Indigenous courses had a misleading agenda.

She also suggested that as a doctor she “wasn't able to talk to” Indigenous patients, “[b]ecause they don't talk” and claimed that “90%” of Indigenous individuals use drugs. These comments, in particular, raised questions about Sapozhnikov's fitness as a medical practitioner in the community, beyond her fitness to be its MLA.

When Kamloops Centre MLA-elect Peter Milobar, also a Conservative, said the words were “reprehensible” and left him “outraged,” one Barriere local made the case to him and to Black Press that attitudes like Sapozhnikov's had contributed to her sister's death by dismissing medical issues as drug-seeking.

Indigenous groups & peer speak against candidate 

The Okanagan Nation Alliance said Sapozhnikov's comments “constitute a form of hate speech" and that First Nations have long “survived the racist and colonial views and actions of people like Ms. Sapozhnikov.”

The First Nations Leadership Council called for Sapizhnikov to be removed by her party, as did the Southern Chiefs' Organization.

BC Assembly of First Nations elected regional chief Terry Teepee told CBC that what she said “spreads hate in our society.”

The Union of BC Indian Chiefs called her words “unacceptable at every level.” The UBCIC supported the NDP in this election, though it has also criticized NDP policy in the past.

The organization posted on Monday that it was glad to work with Premier David Eby again rather than what it called “open hate, racism and misinformation peddled by John Rustad’s BC Conservative Party, including “MLAs who hold extremely dangerous and regressive views.”

Party leader John Rustad “appalled and deeply saddened"

Rustad's email statements to media said that the words were “inaccurate,” “profoundly harmful,” painted a “distorted picture,” and did not reflect the party. But he did not say that Sapozhnikov would be penalized.

Rustad is a former Indigenous Affairs minister, though he drew heat himself from many Indigenous groups this fall for suggesting he'd repeal BC's unanimously passed UNDRIP / DRIPA Indigenous-rights legislation. Sapozhnikov also spoke against DRIPA in the recording, and called UNDRIP “bullshit.”

Opposing parties emphasized lack of penalty 

NDP and Green responses argued that Rustad has repeatedly tolerated bigotry scandals in his party.

Ravi Parmar, the incumbent and MLA-elect in neighbouring Langford – Highlands, argued in the original Vancouver Sun article that Rustad has “protected each of his candidates who have spread hate.”

Similarly, Green leader Sonia Furstenau told the Sun that “actions speak louder than words” and cited an “extremely troubling pattern of dehumanizing comments from BC Conservatives about Indigenous people.” Furstenau was initially slated to run in JDF – Malahat after her Cowichan Valley riding was redrawn, but ended up moving to Victoria and running unsuccessfully vs. Grace Lore.

Local offensive-comment scandal is latest in a growing list for party

As his opponents emphasized, in this tight election Rustad has avoided removing scandal-plagued candidates. However, some such candidates were parted with prior to the actual election period, such as anti-2SLGBT+ Damon Scrase in Courtenay – Comox and 5G-fearing Rachel Weber in Prince George (though Rustad initially did stand by both during early criticism).

The closest precedent to Sapozhnikov's case came several weeks ago with Surrey South candidate Brent Chapman. He had made posts in the past that were anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, and questioned mass shootings' veracity, and more recently had called residential school deaths “fraud.” Rustad called the posts “offensive,” “wrong,” and inconsistent with his and the party's values, but did not rescind Chapman's candidacy nor commit to not making him a government minister.

Ultimately, following Monday's final election results, Chapman will not be a minister regardless—and Sapozhnikov will not be an MLA.

 Story updated Tuesday morning to incorporate Monday election results and additional background.