{"id":25057,"date":"2024-02-21T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-21T17:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=25057"},"modified":"2024-03-01T11:38:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T19:38:08","slug":"none-of-us-expected-that-student-groups-weigh-in-on-post-secondary-ministers-comments-and-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2024\/02\/21\/none-of-us-expected-that-student-groups-weigh-in-on-post-secondary-ministers-comments-and-resignation\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNone of us expected that\u201d: Student groups weigh in on post-secondary minister\u2019s comments and resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, February 5, BC premier David Eby announced that Selina Robinson was stepping down from her position as provincial minister of post-secondary education and future skills. The news came after backlash against comments Robinson made during an online panel.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, January 30, Robinson\u2014who is also MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville\u2014was part of an online panel of Jewish public officials hosted by B\u2019nai Brith, an independent Jewish human rights organization. During the panel, Robinson referred to pre-1948 Palestine as \u201ca crappy piece of land with nothing on it.\u201d She furthered her stance by saying that \u201c[t]here were several hundred thousand people, but other than that, it didn\u2019t produce an economy,\u201d as well as saying that \u201c[i]t couldn\u2019t grow things. It didn\u2019t have anything on it\u201d during the panel.<\/p>\n

Robinson went on to, when discussing Indigenous conflict in BC, use the term \u201cregular people\u201d when discussing non-Indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould we weigh in as regular people? The answer is no,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s between these Indigenous nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Selina Robinson during the online panel on Tuesday, January 30 where she made the controversial comments (screenshot).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BC Federation of Students (BCFS) chairperson Melissa Chirino says that the BCFS was extremely disheartened upon learning about the comments made by Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe statements made by minister Robinson were harmful and do not mirror the provincial government\u2019s commitments to reconciliation, anti-racism, and equity,\u201d says Chirino. \u201cOur minister really shouldn\u2019t play a role in dividing communities but instead encourage campus environments that embrace respectful dialogue and diversity of opinions, an environment that many students are actively trying to build. It was quite disappointing to have our minister putting those comments out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) external executive Jagjeet Singh says that the CCSS acknowledges that some students could\u2019ve been hurt by Robinson\u2019s comments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were surprised,\u201d says Singh. \u201cNone of us expected that. Coming from the position she had at that point… it was really surprising and concerning. We don\u2019t know, really, but we believe that some of our students could be from those regions, and they could\u2019ve felt bad about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh says that there is some concern that Robinson is stepping down around the time that provinces are responsible for sending out provincial attestation letters (PALs) for international students. The timeline for the PALs to be issued is March 31.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a bit concerning,\u201d says Singh. \u201cIt\u2019s good that she wants to work on herself, and then, mostly the government wants her to work on herself and her beliefs. With all the new changes that are coming, we\u2019re a bit concerned about what\u2019s going to happen with the provincial attestation letters, something that\u2019s needed for the new incoming transfer students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BCFS commends the decision to have Robinson step down from her position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[The BCFS] welcomes premiere Eby\u2019s announcement that minister Robinson has made the decision to step down from the cabinet role following the divisive and harmful comments,\u201d says Chirino. \u201cThe provincial government did what needed to be done to ensure that no further harm was caused. But it\u2019s also an acknowledgement that more work has to continue to be done around anti-racism and equity.\u201d<\/p>\n

After she made the comments, many organizations called for Robinson\u2019s immediate removal from cabinet, including the Muslim student associations of UBC and SFU. The Alliance of BC Students also released a statement sharing concern over the comments made by Robinson. The Selina Must Go campaign gathered 11,000 signatures in support of her resignation within days.<\/p>\n

SFU associate professor of global communication Adel Iskander called Robinson\u2019s comments factually incorrect, telling CityNews that \u201c[t]here\u2019s absolutely no history book that would affirm minister Robinson\u2019s articulation of that period in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As well, representatives from over a dozen B.C. mosques and Islamic associations called for Robinson\u2019s removal and said that no NDP MLA or candidate is welcome in their sacred spaces until Eby takes action against Robinson.<\/p>\n

The NDP cancelled a fundraiser event planned in Surrey for Sunday, February 4 and a press conference about housing on Monday, February 5, less than an hour before it was to take place. Eby then had a last-minute press conference at 1:30 pm that day, where he announced that Robinson would be stepping down from her position, saying that \u201c[t]he depth of the work that she needs to do in order to address the harm is significant and incompatible with her continuing\u201d in her position.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the first time this year that calls for Robinson\u2019s termination were made; on January 25, Robinson tweeted her disappointment in Vancouver\u2019s Langara College for reinstating English instructor Natalie Knight, who had given a speech at a pro-Palestine rally praising \u201cthe amazing, brilliant offensive waged on October 7.\u201d Robinson tweeted that she was \u201cdisappointed that this instructor continues to have a public post-secondary platform to spew hatred and vitriol.\u201d On January 26, the college announced that it had parted ways with Knight. The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators told CityNews that it felt that Robinson wrongfully intervened\u2014which Eby has denied\u2014and called for the minister\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

Although a permanent replacement for Robinson has not been announced, provincial minister of jobs, economic development and innovation Brenda Bailey\u00a0is temporarily filling the position.<\/p>\n

Correction: We originally reported that former minister of advanced education and skills training Anne Kang was temporarily filling Robinson’s position when it was in fact provincial minister of jobs, economic development and innovation Brenda Bailey. We apologize for the mistake.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday, February 5, BC premier David Eby announced that Selina Robinson was stepping down from her position as provincial minister of post-secondary education and future skills. The news came after backlash against comments Robinson made during an online panel. On Tuesday, January 30, Robinson\u2014who is also MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville\u2014was part of an online panel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,306],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-february-21-2024"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25198,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25057\/revisions\/25198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}