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 area doctor born in what is now Ukraine, 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.

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.”

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.” Kamloops Centre MLA-elect Peter Milobar, also a Conservative, said the words were “reprehensible.” The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs called them “unacceptable at every level.”

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—though he did not say they 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 unanaimously passed UNDRIP / DRIPA Indigenous-rights legislation. Sapozhnikov also spoke against DRIPA in the recording, and called UNDRIP “bullshit.”

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

Telephone and mail-in ballots finished being counted yesterday, Elections BC announced around 4pm. Remaining to be counted are some absentee ballots. They will begin to be counted at 9am today, and the totals may be updated as frequently as every hour.

Check the latest results here and get Sunday's updates for key ridings below:

NDP holding on to Surrey City Centre after recount

The recount finished around 8:30pm last night with Amna Shah 175 votes ahead. JDF-Malahat recount will finish today.

Conservatives holding on to Courtenay — Comox 

Ronna-Rae Leonard has fallen 116 votes short of holding her Comox seat, falling to Conservative Brennan Day, who secured a total of 13,396. Arzeena Hamir delivered the Greens’ fourth-best vote total in BC with more than 7,000. The riding also included independent protest candidate John Hedican, a father who lost his son to tainted drugs in 2017. He said he ran to oppose a lack of action on drug deaths—and a reliance on drug prohibition—by major parties. He earned 641 votes—more than the margin of victory.

Conservatives also holding Kelowna Centre

A window for the NDP to snag a riding in the Conservative-dominated Interior may have closed. The presence of a former United candidate running as an independent helped make this a close race, but the Conservatives were up by 68 as of Sunday.

Surrey–Guildford may go to a judicial recount

That happens if the margin of victory remains within 1/500 of total votes cast. That magic number will be 37 or 38; last night, the margin was at 12 with some absentee ballots still to be counted. 

This riding has become crucial because flipping it would give the NDP a narrow majority, allowing them to govern without necessarily making a deal with the Greens—although governing with 47 has limitations, as discussed this week.

Victoria's runners are best (and second-best) in the west after the women won their league championship and the men were runners-up in theirs.

At Stoney Creek Park in Abbotsford on Saturday, the Vikes women secured their first title since 2017 and their 22nd overall. For their success, coach Hilary Stellingwerff won Coach of the Year for the first time.

All 5 of their best runners, whose scores count as team points, finished in the top 14 and were names All-Stars: Erin Owens (5th - 30:09.820), Marisha Thompson (6th - 30:27.749), Elise Coates (9th - 30:38.554), Colette Reimer (12th - 31:12.702), and Delaney Chan (13th - 31:14.303).

On the men's side, the 5 scorers were all within the top 30 but only Daniel Damian (5th - 26:02.544) and Jacob Webster (11th - 26:14.371) were All-Stars. The rest finished in the 20s: Jack Boden (20th - 26:48.339), Hayden Woodrow (23rd - 26:54.245), and first-year runner Ian McAllister (29th - 27:08.216) who was named to the All-Rookie team.

The local teams race for a national championship at UBC on Nov. 9.