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On January 30th, 2024, B’nai Brith hosted an event titled “An Evening with Jewish Public Officials”. Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Selina Robinson was one of the speakers at this event, and her comments focused on her efforts to combat anti-Semitism in her role as Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. In the course of making her comments, she stated, in relation to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, that 18-34 year olds “don’t understand that it was a crappy piece of land with nothing on it… there were several hundred thousand people on it but other than that, it didn’t produce an economy, it couldn’t grow things, it didn’t have anything on it…” She continues in this vein, revealing a deep seated anti-Palestinian racism and profound ignorance about Palestinian history. 

Selina Robinson reiterates the long-debunked colonial ideology of terra nullius, the notion that land could be colonised if it was sparsely inhabited and not being used “productively” (i.e. cultivated according to Anglo-European norms of agrarian production). This notion that land was ‘uninhabited’ and ‘empty’ of people and productivity was a racist myth used to dispossess Indigenous peoples the world over, including here, in what is now called Canada. It was used to erase and violently occlude the economies, languages, cultural practices, laws, customs, and rich histories of Indigenous peoples, both here and in Palestine.

Robinson’s racist rhetoric comes after months of very public alignment, in her ministerial role, with Zionist organisations such as CIJA, B’nai Brith and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver. She has proudly spoken of her efforts to suppress pro-Palestine speech on campuses, and has, allegedly, interfered or attempted to influence employment matters at Langara College. 

Selina Robinson is unfit to hold the office of Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills. She has failed to uphold basic (legal) norms of non-interference in the governance of universities, and has also displayed a breathtaking degree of racism and ignorance. We call for her immediate removal from office. We also call for an immediate investigation into ministerial interference in matters relating to academic freedom and freedom of political expression, particularly as it relates to Palestine, by an independent investigator with expertise in civil liberties and anti-racism.