Erin Blondeau's grandfather's birth certificate.
Erin Blondeau's grandfather's birth certificate. Credit: Erin Blondeau Credit: Erin Blondeau

Seeing my grandpa’s birth certificate for the first time was an emotional experience. My dad and I were finally applying for official Métis citizenship, which required documenting our ancestral and cultural ties to the Red River Settlements. As we went through the colonial government’s documentation of my family, I saw how this nation viewed our people. Under the parental “racial origin” section of my grandpa’s birth certificate read “French half-breed.”

That memory resurfaced when I first heard the controversial statements made by Marina Sapozhnikov—the BC Conservative MLA candidate in the Juan de Fuca riding near my home in the Cowichan Valley (unceded Quw’utsun territory). According to an article in the Vancouver Sun, Sapozhnikov made derogatory remarks during an interview with a Vancouver Island University student on assignment to attend the Conservative election night party. Upon learning the student was studying Indigenous studies, Sapozhnikov dismissed the entire academic discipline as “all a lie,” claiming Indigenous history has been falsified as a part of an “agenda” in universities.

Sapozhnikov said that Indigenous peoples were “savages” before European colonization, claiming they had no sophisticated laws and “didn’t even have an alphabet” (perfectly exemplifying eurocentrism, the idea that the “west” should be the pinnacle of humanity and the standard to which all other cultures should be compared.)

But the concern and emotions I felt when hearing Sapozhnikov’s remarks were not solely about the words she used, but more about the overall sentiment of what those words represent in this political moment. The normalization of extremist politics and the justification of white supremacist rhetoric are a signal of emerging forms of fascism that none of us should ignore.

Contextualizing the dehumanization of Indigenous people

Métis people, or Michif, or otipemisiwak, or however we choose to describe ourselves, were classified as “half breed Indians” by colonial authorities. In the eyes of the colonial government and settlers, this did not mean we were half-Native and half-European—it meant we were half human. Métis, First Nations and Inuit were considered the lowest demographic. We were forcibly sterilized, stolen from our families, subjected to poverty, and violently dispossessed from our land, though not without resistance (see: Red River Resistance, North West Resistance, and the on-going Wet’suwet’en resistance as just a few examples).

And they called us savages?

Historical records further highlight the dehumanization of Indigenous people through the words of Canada’s leaders. Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. MacDonald, once said, “These impulsive half-breeds have got spoiled by this emeute (uprising) and must be kept down by a strong hand until they are swamped by the influx of settlers.”

Regarding residential schools, he said, “When the school is on the reserve the child lives with its parents, who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write his habits, and training and mode of thought are Indian.”

And Canadian politician Nicholas Flood Davin was just as explicit with his words: “Indian culture is a contradiction in terms. They are uncivilized. The aim of education is to destroy the Indian.”

These quotes should be antiquated and left for us to learn about in classrooms—not the type of classrooms that sought to destroy the Natives, but the type that honours Indigeneity. Instead, the BC election has revealed that this colonizing spirit is alive in the hearts of today’s politicians.

Sapozhnikov’s claims fundamentally misrepresent well-documented historical reality, and it’s shocking to hear this language from someone with such close proximity to power as a former medical doctor. While BC Conservative leader John Rustad denounced Sapozhnikov’s views, his party’s actions tell a different story. The BC Conservatives’ education platform initially stated it would “remove classroom material that instills guilt based on ethnicity, nationality or religion.” Such policies, combined with party members’ extremist views and statements, create an environment where education is degraded so that racist ideologies flourish. As Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Terry Teegee explains to CBC News, remarks like Sapozhnikov’s only embolden hateful views in our society.

On October 29, Sapozhnikov made a statement on social media expressing regret, saying she used an outdated term and that she was “not aware of the full meaning of and emotional charge that it carries or its historical context,” and that she will use this event “as an opportunity to learn and grow.” I sincerely hope Sapozhnikov sees the irony in believing that Indigenous studies is illegitimate while simultaneously admitting to being ignorant about Indigeneity and Canada’s history of ethnic cleansing.

A pattern of far-right organization and conspiratorial thinking

The election night remarks are not an isolated incident. Sapozhnikov and other aspiring Conservative politicians have engaged in anti-Indigenous activism for several years, joining a broader pattern of far-right political organizing in British Columbia. In March 2022, Sapozhnikov spoke at a far-right “We Unify” freedom convoy rally, urging the “freedom movement” to get involved in politics by running for municipal councils, provincial and federal offices, and school boards. Later that year, she ran for school board in the Cowichan Valley alongside other “freedom movement” members, campaigning on an anti-SOGI 123 platform.

Following her unsuccessful school board bid, Sapozhnikov organized for the Land Keepers Society, a non-profit created to oppose the Cowichan Estuary Restoration Project. She and other conservative hopefuls spoke at a Land Keepers Society town hall, sowing distrust about the estuary restoration project and climate science in general by suggesting the project was part of an international conspiracy to take private property from non-Indigenous people. In 2023, I published an investigation for The Breach into the Land Keepers Society, detailing how and why it opposes the restoration project. The project, which is co-led by Cowichan (Quw’utsun) Tribes, aims to restore stolen Quw’utsun land and strengthen biodiversity to mitigate the climate crisis.

Using social media platforms like Telegram, this neo-conservative movement coordinated across British Columbia during municipal and provincial elections, promoting “freedom” candidates, holding in-person trainings and town halls, aligning with far-right groups like BC Rising, and opposing Indigenous rights, including UNDRIP and DRIPA implementation—a stance also supported by John Rustad and the BC Conservative Party.

A 2017 study on conspiracy theories argues that during periods of crisis, people grappling with uncertainty and powerlessness often seek to oversimplify complex problems by identifying clear villains. While the strain on our social structures and institutions has indeed intensified causing many of our basic needs to go unmet (especially during the pandemic), the root causes can be traced to the systemic impacts of capitalism and imperialism. Yet rather than confronting these convoluted structural forces that impact us all, many instead redirect their anger toward imagined shadowy cabals, which tends to manifest in white supremacist and other discriminatory beliefs.

As the recent BC election shows, many people are now turning to ultranationalism as a solution to these problems. Sapozhnikov’s comments reveal deep conspiratorial thinking around Indigenous rights and a supposed insidious agenda behind teaching Indigenous cultures and histories from a non-Western perspective. Rather than acknowledging that the colonial foundations of the “west” were built on white supremacy and genocide, conspiracists turn to beliefs that Indigenous peoples (and other historically marginalized groups) are part of a sinister global scheme to oppress individual freedoms.

It’s time to connect the dots here: the normalization of such views within mainstream politics is not an isolated matter. Sapozhnikov’s election night comments reflect a broader movement that seeks to rewrite historical truth and undermine fundamental human rights.

Erin Blondeau

Erin Blondeau (she/her) is a Métis mom living on the west coast of so-called British Columbia on unceded Quw’utsun territory. Her paternal family comes from the Red River Settlements and the Qu’Appelle...