B.C. Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay says she doesn’t know where the information came from that alleges her MLAs were given a directive to no longer use the term ‘First Nations.’
“I don’t know where that came from, he presented no evidence. There’s been no such directive, and I think that is mere speculation and I really don’t comment on hypotheticals,” she told Black Press Media in a one-on-one interview Tuesday (July 28).
“It’s simply not true. There was no directive, nothing like that.”
Findlay is referring to a July 27 article in Business in Vancouver, “BC Conservatives urged to stop using term ‘First Nations,’” by Rob Shaw. He covers politics in B.C. for Chek News and Business in Vancouver.
In his article, he says senior staff have started directing some MLAs to no longer use the term “First Nations,” but instead use terminology such as Indigenous, Aboriginal and “Indian.”
“The directive, which has been recently communicated by Findlay’s senior staff to some—but not all—MLAs and opposition staffers, is apparently in response to the term First Nations being viewed as a woke description and language from the left,” his story says.
The article does not say how the directive was communicated, by whom or to whom.
Indigenous has become more widely used in recent years to refer to First Nations, Inuit or Métis people.
Aboriginal has been used in more legal and educational contexts, but the B.C. government’s website refers to “Indigenous Education.”
“Indian” has become outdated, with most uses “discouraged and considered offensive,” the Government of Canada website says. It’s still used in a legal sense, namely the Indian Act of 1876.
Multiple Conservative MLAs have spoken out online against the article, saying there has been no directive.
Langley-Walnut Grove MLA Misty Van Popta took to X to address the story where she said she wasn’t contacted regarding the alleged directive.
Van Popta told Black Press Media that: “All I’ll say is that there was no caucus directive.” She declined to comment further.
Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day said on X to “leave the language policing to the NDP,” adding that “We’ve got enough to worry about with the economy, healthcare, and public safety crisis they’ve created.”
He told Black Press Media that he doesn’t know anyone in caucus “that received such directive.”
“I don’t know where he’s getting his information from,” Day said.