Local Indigenous leaders criticize Kelowna MLA's 'opportunistic means of leveraging potential power'

Photo: Contributed

Osoyoos Indian Band Chief Clarence Louie and Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong

Local Indigenous leaders say Kelowna MLA Tara Armstrong is “cynically using residential schools as an opportunistic means of leveraging potential power” after she left the BC Conservative Party last week.

Last Friday, Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong and Peace River North MLA Jordan Kealy announced they would be leaving their party, in response to Conservative leader John Rustad booting MLA Dallas Brodie from caucus.

Rustad said he kicked Brodie out of the party because of her decision to “publicly mock and belittle testimony from former residential school students, including by mimicking individuals recounting stories of abuses.”

In a press release Thursday morning, the Syilx Okanagan Chiefs said they're angered by Brodie's “blatant racism towards survivors of Indian residential schools.”

“We are distressed about how these comments infiltrate all levels of government and are further perpetuated by elected officials,” the chiefs said. “Denialism has no place on our shared path to truth and reconciliation, which our governments have committed to.”

The Syilx Okanagan Chiefs include Chief Byron Louis (Okanagan Indian Band), Dan Manuel (Upper Nicola Band), Robert Louie (Westbank First Nation), Greg Gabriel (Penticton Indian Band), Clarence Louie (Osoyoos Indian Band) and Keith Crow (Lower Similkameen Indian Band).

In announcing her departure from the BC Conservative Party, Armstrong said Rustad “abandoned the truth and his moral compass in a quest for power” and said B.C. is being “strangled” by “hostile interests within the reconciliation industry.”

She did not provide details about what she believes constitutes the “reconciliation industry,” and she has not returned any of Castanet's recent requests for comment.

The Syilx Okanagan Chiefs said it's concerning Brodie's views are shared openly by both Armstrong and Kealy.

“These politicians are cynically using residential schools as an opportunistic means of leveraging potential power,” the chiefs said. “The very real possibility of more elected officials joining an independent party with these perspectives is a direct threat to all Indigenous peoples and will be a stark barrier to true and meaningful reconciliation.”

Earlier this week, Armstrong, Brodie and Kealy said they would be carrying on as independents in the Legislature.

Brodie's comments were made on a recent podcast, where she said: “If we don't have truth, not his truth, her truth, my grandmother's truth, you know, this whole thing about my truth, your truth, my truth, this stuff has to stop. It's got to be the truth.”

The italicized comments were made in a mocking, childlike tone.

The tensions between Rustad and Brodie had started prior to the podcast appearance though, when Brodie posted to social media: “The number of confirmed child burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site is zero. Zero. No one should be afraid of the truth. Not lawyers, their governing bodies, or anyone else.”

Rustad reportedly asked Brodie to take down the post, but it remains up at this time.

In response to Rustad kicking her out of the party, Brodie claimed “the truth is a threat to powerful vested interests in the multi-billion-dollar reconciliation industry.”

She went on to say the “reconciliation industry” is a “a multibillion-dollar machine churning out guilt and grievance,” which is “used by politicians like David Eby and John Rustad to justify the theft of billions from the public.”

The Syilx Okanagan Chiefs says the former BC Conservative MLAs' “racist propaganda” is a “direct result of how slowly federal and provincial governments have moved to enact the [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] Calls to Action and the failure of Canada’s education system.”

“Racism, denialism, and the deep disrespect shown by these elected officials must be addressed whenever present,” the chiefs said. “There can be no reconciliation until all Canadians understand the horrific realities of Indian residential schools and the impacts they continue to have on Indigenous people today.”