Former cabinet minister Selina Robinson resigns from NDP caucus
CBC
Former B.C. minister of post-secondary education Selina Robinson has resigned from the NDP caucus.
The MLA, who is Jewish, will sit as an independent representing the riding of Coquitlam-Maillardville.
Robinson confirmed her resignation while speaking to reporters at the B.C. Legislature Wednesday afternoon.
In her remarks, Robinson said she felt unsupported as a Jewish woman in her party, and that there are antisemitic voices in the NDP caucus.
Robinson, first elected in 2013, had already announced her retirement and said she won't be running again in the provincial election this October.
Robinson resigned her cabinet post as minister of post-secondary education last month after saying modern Israel was founded on "a crappy piece of land."
Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Robinson said there is a "double standard" within the NDP over how different groups are treated.
"There have been numerous colleagues of mine, intentionally or unintentionally, who have said antisemitic things," she said. "The Jewish community heard apologies from them, they were accepted and things carried on."
In contrast, Robinson said she faced continued backlash despite apologizing on multiple occasions and committing to taking anti-Islamophobia training.
"There's a double standard," she said, describing herself as the "lone voice," providing the perspective of Jewish British Columbians within the provincial government.
Robinson also said her decision to step down as a cabinet minister was based on feedback from the premier that he did "not see a way forward" for her to continue in the role.
Asked for a specific example of antisemitism within the party, Robinson cited recent remarks from Burnaby North NDP MLA Janet Routledge. During a debate on the throne speech in February, Routledge compared accusations from opposition party members that the NDP government was incompetent to Nazi propaganda.
"The Holocaust ended in death camps," Routledge said, attributing her words to a Holocaust survivor in England. "But it started with words. Words are powerful, so let's use them to bind us together as a civilized society, not tear us apart."
Robinson said that comparison diminished the reality of the Holocaust, when the Nazis systemically murdered six million Jews.
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