Canadians call for removal of provincial minister after she called pre-occupation Palestine ‘a crappy piece of land with nothing on it’

A provincial Canadian minister is under increasing pressure to resign after making remarks on Palestine being “a crappy piece of land with nothing on it” before the creation of Israel and its occupation.

Speaking at an online panel with other Jewish politicians in a discussion hosted by advocacy group, B’nai B’rith Canada, on 30 January, Selina Robinson – post-secondary education minister for the New Democratic Party (NDP) in the province of British Columbia – said that Israel was offered to Jews who fled from Europe and elsewhere, and that 18-to 34-year-olds “have no idea about the holocaust”.

She then went on to say they “don’t understand that it [Palestine] was a crappy piece of land with nothing on it. You know, there were several hundred thousand people but other than that, it didn’t produce an economy. It couldn’t grow things; it didn’t have anything on it, and that it was the folks that were displaced that came and had been living there for generations and together they worked hard and they had their own battles.”

She also likened the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a fight between Native American peoples in Canada – particularly the Tsleil-Waututh and the Squamish First Nations – over land, saying the fight is “between these Indigenous nations”.

Following her remarks, many have called for her removal or resignation from the province’s cabinet, including Palestinian Canadians, indigenous leaders, a federal NDP MP and organisations such as the Independent Jewish Voices Canada.

In a post on X last week, Robinson then apologised and acknowledged that she had been “disrespectful”, but stressed that she was referring to the land having limited natural resources. “I understand that this flippant comment has caused pain and that it diminishes the connection Palestinians also have to the land. I regret what I said and I apologise without reservation.”

I want to apologize for my disrespectful comment referring to the origins of Israel on a ‘crappy piece of land’. I was referring to the fact that the land has limited natural resources. I understand that this flippant comment has caused pain and that it diminishes the …. /1

— Selina Robinson (@selinarobinson) February 2, 2024

The following day, she reiterated to the news outlet, Postmedia, that “I said awful things. It came out not the way I intended. I was sloppy with my story telling”, but insisted that she would not resign over the comments. Citing her claimed 40-year history of “working with people and bringing people together”, she asked if “all of that gets negated? That’s harsh”.

Addressing the issue, British Columbia’s premier, David Eby acknowledged that the minister in his cabinet had “crossed a line” and that her comments “increase divisions in our province” and “increase the feelings of alienation of groups of people, especially people of Palestinian descent and people who are concerned about the death and the destruction in Palestine that is happening right now”.

Eby did not openly address the growing calls for Robinson’s removal, however, merely stating that “She has apologised unequivocally, as she should. And she’s got some more work to do.”

READ: Canadians supporting Palestine face job loss, condemnation