Quite the uproar has broken out over comments made by a BC Liberal MLA and candidate in the October 24th election in BC at a roast and fundraising event that took place on September 17th, 2020. The melodramatic, over-the-top comments about a BCNDP MLA and candidate are nothing you wouldn't expect to see at a roast.
Unfortunately, the BCNDP brain trust "running" this election campaign have decided to use this as a way to "cancel" the BC Liberals, and to target and "cancel" specific BC Liberal candidates by trying to dramatically inflate this into issues of "sexism" and "racism." The clear goal is to make this situation front and centre in this 42nd election that most citizens and voters in BC didn't want in the first place. The drama, the theatre, the spectacle of it all. Yawn.
I'm sure this ridiculous, overplayed situation will continue being bandied about for a while in one of the most ill-timed, unsavoury, and "gaslighty" elections to take place in BC history. Its nothing more than the clueless use of #cancelculture, a toxic, poisonous and misguided "election" strategy being used in the current election in BC. This cancel culture strategy has been used quite a bit by the BCNDP, something many voters have noted, and do not support. I've taken the time to point out to many of the BCNDP'ers who are using this as an election strategy -- healthy, mature adults do not engage in this kind of bullying, mobbing, or harassment, which is what it is. Cancel culture is toxic, abusive, poisonous and anti-social behaviour. People, or in this situation, political parties, who use it should, to use their own objectives, be cancelled by voters.
I heard if we vote for X party we'll get kittens, rainbows and unicorns! Party Y promises are equally foolish. I think we all know neither party really means any of it. They never do. Why do we keep falling for it? Its time to break up and stop this nightmarish relationship, and the dysfunction that comes from the style of politics being played here in BC.
Identifying Structural Sexism and Racism in the BCNDP Political Party
The title of this post tells you what its about. This article (more of an essay now) started out as a response to the overwrought hand ringing and pearl clutching response to a Facebook post in which cheerleaders of the BCNDP thought nothing of engaging in their own abusive misogyny, name calling. and sexism toward the "offender" (who had already apologized, but this was ignored by the "victim," who was busy with media and photo ops) -- while calling out sexism and racism in politics. If you think we're circling the landing strip in hell you aren't wrong.
The "victimhood" being claimed by the "offended" party, is being played for all its worth. I think this is a serious mistake -- one that will backfire on her, and the party. Having seen the video a couple of times now, and starting to dig into how it got leaked, and the timing of the leak (the event occurred in mid-September but the Zoom video was leaked during the election), I would say this whole disastrous mess should be investigated -- as a cybersecurity, information and privacy violation. But that's up to the parties involved. This is certainly a timely, and important issue in the days where videoconferencing has been scaled up dramatically in 2020. It highlights an important question, what privacy and security rights do any of us have anymore?
As a girl, then a woman, and later, a social worker, therapist, civil and human rights activist and advocate I have experienced and witnessed real structural sexism, ableism, structural racism, and the intersectional impacts of these things in my life, and in the lives of my clients, family, and friends. I'm done with it all. I hope you are too.
White, Male Privilege and Supremacy: Political Parties and Power
We can't write about the structural "isms" without also discussing how white, male privilege and supremacy creates, maintains, and upholds oppression for those of us who don't fit into these elitist "camps."
Supremacy is defined as:
- "the quality of being supreme;" (Merriam-Webster)
- "the highest authority or greatest power" (Cambridge Dictionary)
Modern day political parties are all about maintaining white, male elitism, power, privilege and supremacy. It is a mistake to think otherwise, in spite of how many female, gender-variant, or trans folks run, or how many "diverse," or "equity" candidates, or elected officials are allowed to run for a particular party. If any of us got a chance to see who is in the back rooms of most political parties, where the real power is, we will see gendered and racial supremacy at work. Spoiler: there aren't a lot of non-white, women, or "other gendered" folks in those rooms. If there were, modern society wouldn't be in the state it is.
In this article, I'm going to offer an analysis to show that the BC NDP, the minority political party that has been in power for three years, since 2017, with the support of the BC Greens, is all of those things and more. This is born out of my frustration and intolerance of the oppressive, gaslighting behaviour that all parties are using to distract us from using a gendered and racial lens and analysis we all deserve to really understand how structural power is used to maintain white, male privilege and supremacy -- at the expense of the rest of us.
Most of us have probably already made up our minds who we're voting for. If you haven't, maybe this will give you something to think about. I think most of us can agree that ALL political parties have elevated #politicalgaslighting to an art form in this ill-timed election. Its truly degenerated into a shameful, "we'll say anything" to bribe you for your vote disaster.
At this point though, we are
having the single most important election in BC's history. There are a series
of events that have already taken place, and those that will unfold if either
main party wins. Many of the authentic, decent and well meaning people
running for all parties are naive to, and really do not understand
who controls, runs, or finances their parties, or what their agendas are.
Seven (7) different BCNDP cabinet ministers chose not to run again in the 2020 election. They all had their various reasons. We would be fools to not see this as what it really means -- the BCNDP "leadership," predominantly white, privileged, elite men, has lost confidence within its own party.
A Lack of Accountability, Openness and Transparency: Hallmarks of Privilege and Supremacy
Behind the media images and expensive social media ads, the real power lies with the white men hidden away from the lime light in the backroom. The BCNDP has carefully kept them out of the public eye. Try to find out who sits on the BCNDP executive board. I double dog dare you. This isn't to say there aren't women on this board. Lots of "woke women" think they've finally made it when they get to sit at the big boy table. That's a complete illusion.
The Backroom Boyz carefully select which "women-folk" and "equity" peeps get to sit at some of their tables. Step out of line, get uppity -- and the ranks will close. You'll be out of favour and done in this "progressive" movement in BC. Your cancellation and erasure will be brutal, cold, ruthless, and vicious. "Friends" you've worked on campaigns and committees with for years don't know you anymore. Female and "equity" members and supporters of the BCNDP have quietly shared their experiences, and fears of being targeted for "stepping out of line," and of being pushed out. Groupthink, a toxic social phenomenon and beast, is a pretty well known phenomenon within most political parties. I've witnessed it myself within BCNDP circles for years.
A political party that keeps their leaders and board hidden is not one we want in office. As citizens and voters we have to ask ourselves what else are they hiding? This is a really important point. After only three years as a minority government, the BCNDP government has repeatedly been singled out for failing the citizens of BC, under BC's Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA).
In September 2020, the Office of the Information and Privacy Officer completed a very concerning special report making the following disturbing findings about the contempt the BCNDP government has had in handling information requests made under FIPPA:
- "... between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2020, government took it upon themselves, in over 4,000 cases, to extend the response time for an access request without any legal right to do so.
- I am deeply troubled by the large number of cases left unanswered within the time limits set out in FIPPA.
- This state of affairs cannot continue without bringing British Columbia’s access to information law into disrepute."
The BCNDP government is also being sued by a number of parties and organizations, including First Nations leaders and groups, for hiding and refusing to release information and data related to COVID-19. This is in spite of their legal obligations to do so under FIPPA.
This information has been requested, and is required for local First Nations leaders to understand the risks facing their communities, and to create safety plans to protect and care for their citizens. This is also within the context in which the BCNDP government also failed to provide COVID-19 testing kits, and other supports and resources, in a timely manner, or at all. Then, compounded the situation facing remote First Nations communities by opening up travel without even consulting Indigenous leaders and communities.
A second serious issue around this is how it ignores the legal authority, health sovereignty and civil rights of First Nations and Indigenous peoples and their governments in B.C. A third issue this raises is the failure of Premier John Horgan and his BCNDP government to honour their ratification and recognition of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by treating First Nations bands and leaders as full partners and stakeholders in all decisions that impact their communities.
Bob Mackin of the Breaker News wrote:
"Three First Nations, the B.C. Teachers Federation, parents at a West Vancouver elementary school and the B.C. Nurses Union have gone public, to demand coronavirus transparency from provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix.
An Oct. 5 report for the Canadian Federation of Nurses by the seniors advisor to Ontario’s SARS commission singled out B.C.’s NDP government for hiding too much information and putting the health of frontline nurses at risk.
“The most problematic jurisdiction may be British Columbia. Its publicly disclosed data has been incomplete, inconsistent and on occasion, seemingly contradictory,” wrote Mario Possamai in A Time of Fear: How Canada Failed Our Health Care Workers and Mismanaged Covid‐19."
Read more about that here.
The Intangible, Ugly and Systemic Nature of Structural Sexism and Racism, Discrimination and Barriers to Equality
The "isms" are often difficult for many people to wrap their heads around because they aren't always easy to understand in a tangible, concrete way. I have had extensive education, training, and professional practice and personal experience learning to deconstruct the structural and systemic nature of sexism and racism from an anti-oppressive lens. My clients, and others, have also deepened my understanding of how the structural isms plays out in our lives. This is generally invisible, and not well understood by those who benefit from privilege and supremacy. They (and the groups they are part of) are also invested in maintaining the status quo, because it upholds their privilege, control, dominance, and the benefits they gain from their supremacy.
Because of my work as a social worker, one who has worked in many areas of professional practice, in direct government, in health care settings, and in community, I have also been able to understand how these things become structural and institutionalized. I bring all of this to the table, and can quite easily identify the structural and institutional issues that are invisible to so many of us.
With respect to gender, sexism, and racism, in only 3 years, the BCNDP have done a lot of things in plain view -- showing us who they are, so to speak. I'll outline their actions, primarily from a gendered analysis below.
BCNDP Actions, Control, Dominance and Oppression in BC
The BCNDP have now been in control of BC, and in power, forming their minority government since 2017, with the support of the BC Green party through the "Confidence and Supply Agreement." Unfortunately, the fact that the BCNDP breached this legal contract by calling the election for October 24th has gone largely unreported. This is an important behavioural cue the BCNDP government, and its' party "leaders" have signaled and shown the citizens and voters of BC about who they are, and how their party operates.
The BC Greens stated one of their reasons for agreeing to the CSA was to create political stability for the people of BC for the next four years. The BCNDP fractured that stability when they breached the contract, the CSA, calling for an election during a pandemic after dramatically telling us for nine months how "dangerous" and "at-risk" we all were from COVID-19. Sending us into busy election voting sites seems to put the lie to, or, at the very least, contradicted what they've been telling the people of BC for most of 2020.
This so-called "progressive" party exists as such only in their own imagination, and in their #gaslighting multi-million $$ ad and social media campaigns. Their old image is also memorialized in the minds of supporters of old, activists and people who steadfastly refuse to open their eyes wide and admit this is no longer the party it used to be.
This is similar to victims of relationship and inter-personal abuse and violence, who experience cognitive dissonance with their abusers. People will fight against the truth (about a person, organization, or other source) rising to the surface because the pain of the betrayal and violation of trust (therapists call this betrayal trauma) from their abusers is too overwhelming to come to terms with. It quite literally shatters their world view and perspectives held close. In my clinical and therapeutic work with survivors of abuse, I referred to this as "pretzling ourselves." Because the egoic and psychic pain and trauma is so powerful, we will twist ourselves into knots to stop the truth about a person, or organization, from coming full force into our consciousness. I believe we are currently experiencing a collective trauma based on betrayal at a society level in BC, Canada, and globally.
The BCNDP, a party run by, and for white, elitist and privileged men, most of them, "career politicians," is an anachronistic hellish vestige of the past that needs to be put out to pasture for good. This party maintains and encourages sexism, and racism and preserves oppression in the very atoms of its make up.
I'm a reality dealer. I don't fall for splashy window dressing, political gaslighting, or big money, American-style ad campaigns. For many years, I've taught my clients -- many of whom are survivors of family and relationship abuse, that flowery sweet talk and words mean very little. Its actions we need to pay attention to.
We can understand the real person, or political party, by the concrete, measurable and specific actions they have engaged in toward us, or others. We can also predict future behaviour, with a reasonable chance of success, by looking closely at past behaviour. It is when we start to really dissect the actions that we get the glimpse behind the mask, or the curtain, to see what's really going on.
Concrete actions, or Inaction on Gender and Racial Issues by the BCNDP Government Since 2017
The BC NDP has failed girls and women of all ages in BC throughout their time in office in myriad ways. This is structural sexism. Arguably, their actions signal a tolerance for gender-based inequality, abuse, and violence toward BC's girls and women. Their actions, and inaction also demonstrates their lack of commitment to the civil and human rights and social justice for girls and women in BC.
- The BCNDP government has failed to prioritize the personal and public safety and well-being of girls and women who take public transportation in BC. They have also ignored increasing rates of sexual assaults, child sexual abuse, and criminal harassment of racialized girls and women on transit. Transit police reported 212 sexual offences on transit in 2019 (with many more that aren't reported). On August 4th, 2020, several female teenagers launched a public awareness campaign to "educate" adults to intervene and stop them from being sexually assaulted and harassed on transit. Not only did the BCNDP ignore this, two days later, TransLink announced they required everyone taking transit to be masked. This meant that all pedophiles, sex offenders, and harassers will never be identified, charged, or convicted for abusing children on transit. This also made taking transit in BC a high-risk public safety activity for sexualized violence for girls, teenagers, and women. Read more here and here.
- The BCNDP government covertly defunded and
dismantled the Provincial Office of Domestic Violence (#PDOV). This office was
created under the BC Liberal government, and ran from 2014 to 2017. It had received $5.5 million over those years. The important work and funding that flowed from this office was quietly ended by the BCNDP.
- The BCNDP government failed to create a new Provincial Domestic Violence Plan when the previous one ended in 2017. There is no longer any real coordination, leadership, or strategic planning across the BC government for the issues of gender-based equality, violence, and #violenceagainstwomen and exposure of their children to this form of child abuse. This leaves women
(and children) at-risk, individually, and structurally. The actions in dismantling these initiatives across governmental ministries is structural sexism and demonstrates a lack of commitment to gender equality for girls and women in BC. See more here.
- The BCNDP government created a "Parliamentary Secretary for "Gender Equity" position, and a "Gender Equity office" which has not produced a single, tangible "deliverable" in the two years this role and office have been in place. The mandate letter from Premier John Horgan makes it clear this office was never set up to produce any tangible, or concrete results, or improvements for girls and women in BC. This has occurred during a time period when women's socio-economic status and standing has been declining in substantive ways in BC. This has also been during a time period where sexual abuse, sexualized violence, and other forms of gender-based violence have been increasing toward girls and women.
- The BCNDP government has demonstrated no systemic commitment, efforts, and work to stop #childabuse, #childsexualabuse, #childsextourism, and #childtrafficking of girls and women, who are trafficked in, from, and through BC. Since forming government in 2017, the BCNDP has not created a new, Action Plan to End Human Trafficking in BC. It also hasn't funded and staffed the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons. Read more about that here and here.
- The BCNDP has failed to stop #birthtourism in BC and recognize this as child and human trafficking, of infants, women, and mothers. Infants born in BC, who become citizens by birth on Canadian soil are then transported out of Canada. The BC government does not take any interest, or fiduciary responsibility for what happens to these Canadian children after their births. Once these children have been used to acquire Canadian passports and citizenship they disappear into the shadowy hellish world that developed this scheme. The BCNDP has also failed to stop the money laundering and organized crime elements that are clearly part of the birth tourism business and industry that BC health authorities, and others, are benefiting from financially -- at the expense of children and women. "The province saw a 21.9% spike in non-resident births between April 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020." Read more about this here.
- The BCNDP has failed to take provincial leadership to expand and enhance specialized #domesticviolence, improve #accesstojustice #A2J, and improve access to representation by family law lawyers in family cases involving intimate partner violence (IPV), family and spousal domestic violence, and child abuse. This has led to a crisis in BC for women facing IPV, relationship violence and criminal harassment. See more here. The BCNDP government has also failed to prioritize IPV, trauma and child abuse training for BC judges who sit in family law courts. The BC government has also failed to implement any sort of violence risk assessment and screening and forces abused and traumatized women to go into mediation with abusive, and/or harassing ex-partners where they are often coerced into agreeing to court orders to end these abusive and trauma-inducing processes.
- During #COVID19, the BCNDP
systematically targeted female-dominated work for business closures. This was
especially the case for industries and work where racialized women are
concentrated. Once things started being allowed to open up again, women lag in returning to work due to ongoing restrictions, when schools were still shut down, and women have been systematically pushed out of public life and participation in
#BCsociety in 2020 due to "COVID-19." Read more about that here and here.
- Senior women in BC have also been disproportionately impacted by the BCNDP's "handling" of what many now refer to as, the "#COVIDcrisis." This is because more senior women live longer, and are in residential care. In group care settings in BC senior women (and men) have been subjected to some of the most inhumane, undignified and unconstitutional treatment in BC history. The BCNDP government, and its unelected/appointed leaders set in place, mandated, and allowed thousands of senior women to be confined, detained, and kept isolated, and apart from their loved ones, friends, and shut off from participating in public life for over nine months now. Throughout 2020, the BCNDP has run rough shod over senior women's (and men's) civil rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the BC Adult Guardianship Act regarding their rights to autonomy, self-determination, and to consent in how they wish to assess and made decisions about risks in their lives. Make no mistake about this -- this meets the international definition of crimes against humanity from the United Nations.
- Senior women have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19-related deaths in group care settings. The average age of those reported to die of COVID-19-related illnesses has been 85. The BC government has been irresponsibility obstructive about the gender of those lost. Since only 8% of people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported to have been hospitalized over the last 9+ months, this is a very important consideration. In Canada, research has shown that over 80% of all "COVID-19) deaths have been associated with residential and/or long-term care settings. This is reprorted to be double what has been seen in other countries. See here and here and here.
- Girls and women's socio-economic and societal standing in BC has never been worse after 3 years of a BCNDP and #BCGreen coalition government. This is a fact. See here and here and here.
- The BCNDP also failed to protect #racialized women who work on the front lines in health care settings and ensure they had adequate #PPE while working in workplace environments that were higher-risk for contracting and transmitting COVID-19 to patients. Then they abruptly plunged these women into financial devastation and ruin by enacting orders preventing them from working at multiple sites -- when it was the BC government that set the system up like this. All of this while the white, privileged elected and appointed "leaders" were collecting full pay cheques and benefits when these workers were struggling to keep a roof over their families' head, or feed their kids. See here.
- The #BCNDPgovernment
covered up the disproportionate impacts of #COVID19 on racialized women, First Nations, and specific
ethno-cultural communities, by refusing to collect race-based data. Meanwhile
those most impacted were forced to fund raise & beg for donations of PPE
while caring for #bcseniors, and dealing with their own health issues due to
contracting #COVID19 at work.
- BC has reported astronomically high numbers of women (and men) dying from drug poisoning and overdoses in 2020. The BC Coroners Service reported that 206 women died from "illicit drug toxicity" in 2020. This number includes many women who left children behind. The BCCS has removed the Sept. 2020 statistical data from their website, but the August report can be found here.
- #Domesticviolence, #childabuse & #childsexualabuse and #childtrafficking and #humantrafficking of girls and women, particularly #FirstNations and #Indigenous girls and women, has skyrocketed under the BCNDP due to their "management" of COVID-19. Read more here and here. #SaveOurChildren #SaveTheChildren
- Although many have advocated for the unique needs, civil and human rights of BC girls and women, the BCNDP have been completely silent on the disproportionate impacts and losses girls and women have faced in 2020 due to their "management of COVID-19." Girls and women were systematically removed from public life through the public policy decisions and measures taken by the BCNDP government in 2020. Girls were systematically removed from school and communities, and social life when the BCNDP government closed all of these things down.
- Women were systematically removed, en masse, from their jobs, the workforce and labour market, and from public life when the BCNDP government targeted particular industries and businesses for partial, or full closure. Several generations of women in BC saw their incomes disappear, facing devastating socio-economic and psychological impacts and trauma. This also significantly increased women's risks of abuse, violence, vulnerability, and marginalization due to their inability to earn an income, and being ordered to "stay at home" with abusers. See here and here.
- The Terms of Reference for the #AddressingRacism investigation into structural racism in the #BCHealthCare system didn't even include a term to look at gender, or intersectionality that influences discrimination and substandard treatment. This is in spite of substantial bodies of research that demonstrate that girls and women are systematically gaslighted and mistreated in health care, and that this substantially impacts girls and women who experienced intersectional identities, including racialized and disabled girls and women. This also includes gender variant and trans girls and women. They clearly didn't even consult their own appointed "Gender Equity" appointee in creating the TOR's for something this egregious to happen.
- The BCNDP has allowed WorkSafeBC to continue to only recognize two genders, male and female. They have also allowed and encouraged systematic and structural discrimination against female injured workers in BC. Female injured workers are much less likely to have their claims accepted. In 2018, WSBC reported that less than 40% of accepted claims were female workers injured at work. The BCNDP had to be legally forced to release #JanetPatterson's report and review of #WorkSafeBC in which she outlined the structural sexism, discrimination, and mistreatment that female injured workers face from WSBC. The BCNDP also failed to make any meaningful and real change in WSBC when they had the chance. Read about the Gender Based Analysis of how WSBC is failing injured female workers in BC at pages 121-132.
- Almost all of the women of colour in the BCNDP party have been tokenized, or marginalized and relegated to the sidelines. This white, male privileged elitist party has structurally operated to keep many of their best, smartest, most talented and skillful female MLA's, primarily women of colour, in junior roles, with no real authority, or power. They also keep them out of the lime light while ensuring almost all of those who were allowed to step into it were older white, privileged men and women.
- The BCNDP manipulated the candidate process to disqualify a very viable First Nations female candidate to ensure their white male star candidate would run in the riding. They did this in spite of their parties own "equity" policy. Now, the party is spending $$ to run Facebook ads trying to distract from their bad faith, and oppressive actions by highlighting other First Nations candidates to undo the peek we all got into who this party really is after the curtain was pulled away for those brief moments. Read here and here.
A Vote for the BCNDP is a Vote for the Status Quo
The BCNDP is a bastion of white, male, elitist oppression toward girls and women, Black, First Nations and people of colour. A vote for this old, tired party is a vote for the same garbage that keeps women, First Nations, and people of colour down, and excluded from being able to change the power structures that dominate our lives. The same structures and institutions that prevent societal change from happening. The same abusers that bring us flowers the next day after they punched us in the face because we dared to tell them we had a vision of a better world for ourselves, and for our kids.
Nothing is ever going to change unless people stop voting for these white, male privileged, elitist and supremacist political parties and candidates. Nothing.
When you cast your vote in
#BCelxn2020, I want you to consider this -- if you vote to uphold the status
quo, just know this, if you still try to pretend you're a
"progressive" that is a lie you're telling yourself. You're no
different than these power mongering, gaslighting #CareerPoliticians . You're
voting to uphold structural sexism, structural racism, and oppression in BC.
Then, think about explaining to your kids, or your grandchildren why they encounter so much sexism and racism, or intersectional discrimination in BC. Think of how you will explain that everyone had a chance to stop the train wreck, but you didn't. This isn't just about these parties. In this election, if the wrong people get in, this will be the end of BC as we have known it. Full stop.
Solutions and Alternatives: Voting for Real Change and Equality
As a #BCsocialworker I am always #solutionfocused. I look for ways to knock down barriers, and for "work arounds." These are my thoughts on this:
Vote for candidates who have a real, authentic and concrete history of caring, ethical community service, and leadership.
Vote for people who are known to be collaborative with a wide range of stakeholders in their communities.
Vote for people who truly care about the people in their communities and riding and that have shown this care in concrete, measurable ways. The best way to predict future behaviour is to carefully assess and scrutinize past behaviour.
Vote for a wider range of candidates and leaders: women, First Nations, Black, pan-Asian and other people of colour, and gender-variant and trans people. Lets shift the political paradigm together.
#VoteIndependentBC
In #BCelxn2020 let's elect a broad-based coalition government that represents a wider range of people to lead us into the future.
Vote for a #BCcoalitiongovernment
