TUESDAY UPDATE:
On Tuesday, the BC Conservatives had managed to reach some sort of a compromise as their MLAs avoided making any comments to the media as they gathered for a caucus meeting in Victoria. Rustad told the media: “All members of the caucus have the right to say things, and the right to be able to bring forward issues, and I look forward to the discussions.” He added: “We don’t whip our people to say what they want to say.”
BC Conservative Leader John Rustad tried to pacify angry members of his caucus by meeting with former Vancouver Police Board Vice Chair Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba on Monday and announcing that they talked about “what it means to be proudly Christian and proudly conservative.”
As many as 13 B.C. Conservative MLAs had fired off a letter last month to Rustad attacking fellow MLA Elenore Sturko (Surrey-Cloverdale) for ‘endorsing’ Sakoma-Fadugba’s resignation because of remarks she had made on social media.
They wrote to Rustad that “to restore confidence in this core values, we ask that: 1. You invite Ms. Sturko to offer the Ms. Sakoma a written apology and to encourage the Vancouver Police Board to advance conciliatory discussions with Ms. Sakoma. 2. If Ms. Sturko declines your invitation, we ask that you offer this apology and encouragement on behalf of the Conservative caucus.”
In a post on X, Rustad wrote: “I’m grateful to Comfort Sakoma for inviting me into her beautiful home to share a meal with her, as we approach the auspicious holy day of Christmas.
“Together, we talked about our shared values of family, faith, and community and about what it means to be proudly Christian and proudly conservative.
“To me, being Christian and conservative means fighting for parents rights, religious liberty, and freedom of speech — even when we don’t always fully agree with one another.
“To that end, there has been some controversy about my decision to allow different views to be shared by my Conservative Party Caucus — particularly about MLA Elenore Sturko’s comments around the dismissal of Comfort Sakoma from the Vancouver Police Board.
“I want to make it crystal clear where I personally stand — I support Comfort Sakoma and I don’t believe she should have been asked to quit the VPD police board.
“However, I also understand the critical importance of freedom of speech, particularly for MLAs.
“Personally, I believe MLA Sturko should meet with Comfort Sakoma before drawing further judgement — Comfort is a wonderful person with so much to offer, and I hope she continues to advocate for the conservative movement in British Columbia and in Canada.
“We all do so much better when we take the time to get to know one another.”
One of Sakoma-Fadugba’s social posts had criticized Diwali celebrations at schools. She wrote that the “push for secular education isn’t about religion — it’s about erasing Christian values from the lives of our children.”
According to CBC, “in screenshots shared to Reddit, one of Sakoma-Fadugba’s posts discusses how “mass immigration” and “a growing aversion to assimilation” are “transforming Canada into a place where a shared identity is disappearing.””
Sakoma-Fadugba, who immigrated to Canada from Nigeria as a young child, told CBC that screenshots posted to Reddit do not “capture the entirety of the conversation that was being had.” She added: “I’m genuinely sorry that it has caused so much harm. That was not my intent.”
She told CBC that she has a deep respect for Hinduism and that learning about the religion has strengthened her Christian faith.
She claimed that what she was trying to say was that she would “really love to see a lot more unity around Canada,” adding: “And I think, obviously, I sadly did not get to communicate that as well as I would have wanted to.”
The MLAs who signed the letter are Tara Armstrong, Rosalyn Bird, Dallas Brodie, Brent Chapman, Reann Gasper, Sharon Hartwell, Jordan Kealy, Anna Kindy, Kristina Loewen, Heather Maahs, Macklin McCall, Korky Neufeld and Ward Stamer.
Incidentally, Chapman, the husband of South Surrey-White Rock Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, was severely criticized for his racist comments and conspiracy theories during the election campaign.
Keith Baldrey had reported on CKNW that before Sturko defected to the BC Conservatives, she had called Chapman “an extremist,” and a “QAnon conspiracy theorist.”
The party’s president, Aisha Estey, had tweeted her support for Sakoma-Fadugba: “Cancel culture is alive and well at the Vancouver Police Board. She should never have resigned and shame on those who pressured her to do it.”
