“[Reconciliation] requires honesty, accountability and a willingness to have difficult conversations without reducing people to racial categories or political labels.”
—Chris Sankey
Under BC Conservative interim leader Trevor Halford, the party enjoyed a significant lead over the BC NDP in the polls. Since new leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay was elected at the end of May, Conservatives’ popularity and fundraising has been on a downward slide.
That should be a warning to anyone who believes the path to victory is simply to move further to the right.
Those cheering ‘good riddance’ to Conservative MLAs who are leaving the party to sit as independents should reconsider the political reality of British Columbia. We are not Alberta. We are not Saskatchewan. We are not Ontario. British Columbia has its own political culture, and elections are often decided by voters in the centre.
The NDP has demonstrated a substantial and durable electoral base. That leaves opposition parties with a relatively narrow path to a majority government: they have to attract voters beyond their traditional core.
B.C. Premier David Eby understands that dynamic. He won Vancouver-Point Grey, a riding with a long history of support for the BC Liberals. The NDP has repeatedly shown it can compete effectively in constituencies where it once faced significant barriers.
The lesson should be obvious: Parties that want to govern this province have to broaden their appeal and build coalitions that truly are a big tent.
Here’s where leadership matters.
A person can be popular within a political party without being the best person to win a general election. The goal of choosing a leader should not just be a conservative purity test. It should be also about choosing the candidate capable of attracting enough voters across the political spectrum to form government.
Many current Conservative members are former BC Liberals or disaffected BC NDP supporters. Realistically, before the Conservative Party’s revival in 2022, right-of-centre voters had nowhere else to cast their vote than with the BC Liberals (later renamed BC United). Criticizing them now for previously being, or voting for, BC Liberals is disingenuous and self-sabotaging.
Because if Findlay wants to build a wider movement and become government like she says, she needs to lead by genuinely welcoming MLAs and party members, regardless of their past party affiliations.
Confrontational politics hurt British Columbia
Findlay also needs to lose the confrontational rhetoric on the reconciliation file. She has made claims about our land negotiations and the treaty process that I believe were misleading and driven by fear rather than an honest discussion of the facts. In doing so, it feels as if she’s placed my people in the middle of a political fight.
The BC Conservative leader is right to challenge bad policy. But she also bears some responsibility over framing how this debate has unfolded, and how it has unleashed an explosion of racist, inflammatory, and ignorant commentary on social media.
Not only is that bad politics, it hurts the interests of all British Columbia.
Treaty negotiations, Aboriginal title, and Section 35 rights are complex legal and constitutional matters. They affect governments, First Nations, communities, and the economy, and they will not be resolved through slogans, fear-mongering, or election rhetoric.
The modern treaty process has been underway for more than thirty years. It involves negotiated agreements between First Nations, and the provincial and federal governments. At the same time, Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, provides constitutional protection for Aboriginal and treaty rights. Governments cannot simply make those rights disappear because they are politically inconvenient.
But that doesn’t mean governments and some Indigenous leaders are doing reconciliation well. In many ways, they aren’t.
‘Settler’ rhetoric is creating dangerous divisions
DRIPA, as currently written, is an unworkable document. Either the legislation needs to be fundamentally revamped, or it should be replaced altogether. In its present form, it not only creates barriers to economic and social progress in British Columbia, but also hinders growth and opportunity in Indigenous communities.
And let’s also be honest about how we got here. The current culture war did not emerge in a vacuum.
The NDP government’s rhetoric around “settlers,” “unwanted guests,” and even Premier David Eby’s reference to “the colonial mistake,” creates a dangerous us-versus-them atmosphere that divides British Columbians rather than bringing people together.
Language matters, particularly when we are talking about reconciliation and building relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
Statements made by representatives of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs, including grand chief Stewart Phillip, as well as regional chief Terry Teegee are equally unhelpful. Accusing white British Columbians of racism simply because they have different ancestry or hold opposing views on these issues, deepen that divide.
There are certainly individuals who make racist or offensive statements, and they should be held accountable for their own words and actions. But we cannot paint millions of people with the same brush.
I have particular concerns as both a leader within my hereditary system and a former elected leader of my community. I take the consequences of residential schools seriously and believe strongly in the need for truth and reconciliation. At the same time, claims surrounding unmarked graves and other matters must be investigated carefully, documented properly, and discussed honestly.
The same standard should apply to everyone
Indigenous history and Indigenous languages deserve respect, and so does the public’s right to ask difficult questions without being automatically branded racist. We cannot build stronger relationships by responding to disagreement with accusations, contempt, or collective blame.
British Columbians deserve better.
They need a much better understanding of what treaty negotiations actually involve. Both B.C. and Ottawa must be more transparent and stop springing done-deals onto the public without adequate consultation. And governments and the media have a responsibility to provide clear, factual, and balanced information about the treaty process, including its legal, economic, social, and constitutional implications.
British Columbians need policy that works, dialogue that is respectful, and a treaty process that everyone can understand and have confidence in.
People should be able to understand what is being negotiated, what the potential benefits and costs are, and how these agreements will affect both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. Because reconciliation cannot succeed through division. It requires honesty, accountability and a willingness to have difficult conversations without reducing people to racial categories or political labels.
My suggestion to those in the B.C. legislature is simple: focus on the economy, education, women’s issues, health care and public safety. Stop the culture wars, identity politics, and race-baiting. If you don’t, the province will suffer the consequences, and those divisions will derail any meaningful path forward to prosperity and success.
But what do I know? I’m just a kid from the reservation.