NDP Minister Selina Robinson steps down following controversial comments
By Lone Sheep Publishing
NDP MLA Selina Robinson regrets that recent comments during an online discussion made about Palestine and the Israel-Hamas war.
However, that remorse did not stop the Legislature member from Coquitlam-Millardville from resigning her cabinet position Monday as Minister for Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills in the BC Government.
“My recent comments have caused pain and distress within the Palestinian community, the Muslim community and beyond. I am very sorry. I bear full responsibility,” Robinson, who is Jewish, said in a statement on her MLA website.
BC Premier David Eby said in a news conference Monday in Vancouver that the work Robinson would need to do to address the harm she created by those comments is “incompatible” with her continuing as minister.
“She screwed up and that screw up was not a small one,” Eby said.
“It was a big one. She’s cause a lot of hurt.”
Robinson has been heavily criticized for comments made during online discussion with other Jewish politicians on January 30, 2024, hosted by B’nai B’rith Canada, where she said Israel was founded on a “a crappy piece of land with nothing on it.”
“My words were inappropriate, wrong, and I now understand how they have contributed to Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism,” Robinson continued in the statement.
“During a time of crisis when many innocent people are being killed, including Palestinians and Jews with family in British Columbia, those in positions of power have a responsibility to bring people together.
“My comments, however, did the opposite and contributed to further division.”
Robinson said Monday that she will not seek re-election the riding of Coquitlam-Millardville, which she has been representing since 2013.
Although she said this decision was made prior to the current controversy.
