BC NDP candidate resigns over online postings
Posted April 16, 2013 2:50 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KELOWNA (NEWS1130) – The BC election campaign got off to an ugly start for the NDP, as a candidate has been forced to quit over inflammatory statements about aboriginals.
New Democratic leader Adrian Dix has accepted the resignation of Kelowna-Mission candidate Dayleen van Ryswyk, saying she made unacceptable comments in Internet postings involving the compensation for First Nations.
On the 2009 forum, a user named Dayleen wrote in a thread entitled “Strip Them of the Status Card.”
“It’s not the status cards, it’s the fact that we have been paying out of the nose for generations for something that isn’t our doing. If their ancestors sold out too cheaply, it’s not my fault and I shouldn’t have to be paying for any mistake or whatever you want to call it from MY hard earned money,” read the post.
Another one compares the benefits afforded to aboriginal people with claims other abused groups could be making.
“I don’t think anyone is saying that wrongs didn’t happen (incredible wrongs). You could have almost any race, group or ethnic people tell you horrible haunting stories of what happened to them. If someone did me wrong, it’s my right to sue … as it is everyone else’s.”
It was the BC Liberals that drew attention to the comments earlier in the day.
Dix admits his party failed to properly vet her. “Mistakes happen in vetting processes sometimes, and matters come to our attention and we take action. That’s what did today.”
Dix says a new candidate for that riding will be announced soon. “Things happen. There are 85 candidates. But I consider these remarks particularly serious, and I disagree with them strongly, and I took immediate action.”
BC Liberals say van Ryswyk should have been fired a while ago
Liberal Candidate for Langley Mary Polak is wondering what kind of vetting process the NDP has.
“I know within our party, we ask candidates to provide us information with respect to comments they’ve made online. I’m assuming that must not have happened in this case.
Polak says anyone who holds those kinds of views should not be able to represent their community as an MLA.
“One would hope that in something as important as a provincial election, and putting forward candidates who could potentially be members of the Legislative Assembly, that the leader of the party, that the party themselves would have vetted the candidate thoroughly and discovered these kinds of comments.”
