A Family Tie and Firm Guidance as Conservative MLAs Sworn In

Former lieutenant-governor Steven Point had a clear message for newly elected BC Conservative MLAs — including his daughter — at their swearing-in this week.

British Columbia needs to move forward on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, he said, and he reminded the MLAs they are in the legislature to serve the people of the province.

“Just keep this in mind: we’re all here on this Earth to serve the communities that we represent, and more than that all of the people of British Columbia,” Point said at the Tuesday event in the legislature.

“I just want to encourage you to think about all those people in dire need of government assistance, as we face global warming, as we face wildfires, torrential rains and diminishment of our natural resources in this province,” he said. “It’s not an easy task in government and it’s sometimes a thankless job.”

The BC Conservatives won 44 of the province’s 93 constituencies, just failing to form government. During the campaign, party leader John Rustad argued that climate change is not a crisis, and their opponents flagged racist, anti-Indigenous and homophobic comments made by some of the Conservative candidates.

The 47 BC NDP MLAs and two BC Green MLAs were sworn in during separate ceremonies Tuesday and Wednesday.

Point is the past chancellor of the University of British Columbia and a former Chief of the Skowkale First Nation and tribal chair of the Stó:lō Nation.

He served as B.C.’s lieutenant-governor from 2007 to 2012, but drummed and spoke Tuesday night as father of Á'a:líya Warbus, who was elected as a Conservative in Chilliwack-Cultus Lake.

Point began his remarks to the new Conservative MLAs, their families and supporters by noting that First Nations people were prohibited from voting in Canada until 1951.

He recalled “talking to my children and asking them, ‘Maybe it’s time that we came off the reservations and participate in the political life of this country.’”

Looking over at his daughter, he said, “So she took me up on that offer.”

Warbus is new to politics and, like many of the MLAs, will have a lot to learn as they deal with problems including homelessness and drug addiction, Point said. He likened the criticism they are likely to receive to knives in their backs. “Pull them out and keep going.”

When he was lieutenant-governor, Point had a Songhees pole added inside the legislature and he carved a canoe that sits in the building’s Hall of Honour.

“What does it mean? It means we have to learn to paddle together,” he said. “You can’t just sit there and let everybody else paddle.”

To get anywhere, everyone has to paddle at the same time, Point said. “Reconciliation is about that.”

The legislature is on Songhees and Esquimalt territory, and Point recalled his friendship with former Esquimalt Chief Andy Thomas.

“He’s gone now, but if he was here he would remind you you are in their traditional territory,” Point said. “We cannot turn the clock back 100 years, but we can envision a plan for the next 100 years.”

He closed by saying, “Congratulations to you. Get to work, OK?”

Since the election Premier David Eby has spoken about working across party lines to deliver on key priorities, but he has made clear there is at least one BC Conservative MLA the government will be unwilling to work with.

“We're already in conversations with the Greens,” Eby said. “Our hands are outstretched to any MLA that wants to work with us... with just one bright-line exception. We will not tolerate hate, discrimination, conspiracy theory garbage.”

Rustad said he’s been working to build a coalition within the Conservative party. Along with Warbus being the first Stó:lō person elected, he said, the caucus includes the first Black woman elected in B.C. since 1972 and a large number of women compared with Conservative caucuses in other provinces.

“For our crew there’s a lot of excitement,” he said. “Everybody is very eager to get at it and start the work.”

The BC NDP caucus is two-thirds women and includes three Indigenous MLAs, plus many who identify as people of colour, people living with disabilities or people from the LGBTQ2S+ community.