Conservative candidate Marina Sapozhnikov was trailing NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse by just 20 votes in Vancouver Island’s Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding when Sapozhnikov described Indigenous people as “savages” during our October 19 interview.

The Juan de Fuca-Malahat candidate made the divisive remarks at an election night gathering of campaign volunteers, workers and supporters.

In Russia, independent media are not allowed to report and practice free speech. Everything is strictly controlled by the state. In Ukraine, many journalists are paying the highest price imaginable—their lives—for their ability to report and share the truth about the war. As a Russian-Ukrainian, the opportunity to discuss these topics publicly is crucial to the integrity of journalism in Canada.

What is happening in Ukraine is a colonial legacy of the Russian Empire. What is happening in Canada is the colonial legacy of the British Empire.

The conversation began when Sapozhnikov asked me what I was studying, and as a second-year student taking Indigenous Studies at VIU, I was shocked by her stance.

“It’s all a lie,” Sapozhnikov said about Indigenous teachings in universities.

“They rewrite Indigenous history. [Indigenous people] were hunters and gatherers. [People] make them some enlightened people,” Sapozhnikov said. “They didn’t have writing. They didn’t have an alphabet.”

I was shocked by her stance. The experience resurfaced some important truths for me. 

“But that’s a very Western-centric point of view,” I said. “They had sophisticated laws and they had verbal—”

“They were very simple people,” she said. “They fought each other. They, they teach you this stuff? It’s not true.”

“They [Indigenous Canadians] didn’t have any sophisticated laws. They were savages.… Not one hundred percent savages, maybe ninety percent savages,” Sapozhnikov continued. “Indigenous People were very simple, very simple… [They] didn’t—don’t have—any special Indigenous Knowledge. No, they don’t. There’s only one type of knowledge, and it’s called scientific method.”

The comments were entirely unexpected. I tried to explain that Traditional Knowledge, rooted in nature, was valuable to our understanding of the world, and we were ruining it.

“We didn’t ruin anything. That’s exactly what is happening. They’re brainwashing you,” Sapozhnikov said. “They’re doing a very good job.”

For years, numerous universities and governmental agencies have incorporated traditional knowledge into their practice, while Indigenous people have also held office at multiple levels of Canadian government.

Canada’s highest political office, Governor General, is currently occupied by an Inuk leader Mary Simon. Steven Point served as British Columbia’s first Indigenous Lieutenant-Governor in 2007, and Indigenous politicians like Nisga’a Chief Frank Calder have served as cabinet ministers and members of legislature.

Parks Canada also works closely with Inuit, First Nations, and Metis elders across Canada and BC. Recently, Parks Canada scientists have introduced traditional methods of prescribed burns to reduce wildfire threats and control invasive species in the Gulf Islands national park.

“Together we braid Indigenous Knowledge with western science. This way, we gain a more complete picture of conservation issues and solutions,” Parks Canada says on their website.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada also acknowledges on its own website, “the important role that Indigenous peoples play in wildlife conservation and the need to consider Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge in the assessment of which species may be at risk.”

Annually, Parks Canada allocates approximately $4.5 million to Indigenous-led conservation projects.

Despite this, racism is alive and thriving in our society, both in our institutions and especially in our government. 

Sapozhnikov heavily associated Indigenous people with addicts; a narrative that has been spun by Western culture for far too long. She also said that the government was “paying lip service” to make up for residential schools, and “pushing drugs” onto them.

In what’s been a heated election, Sapozhnikov is the latest Conservative party candidate to find themselves in the news for controversial views.

Brent Chapman, a BC Conservative party candidate who ran in the electoral district of Surrey South, was recently criticized for past social media posts in 2015 disparaging Muslims and Palestinians, and endorsing conspiracy theories regarding residential schools in Canada.

Though he has since changed his mind and perspective, Chapman won his riding during this election.

Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream Conservative candidate Tara Armstrong claimed a medical doctor who was encouraging the public to get vaccinations was paid by pharmaceutical companies and, according to the Vancouver Sun, “a total fraud”. Armstrong also won her riding.

Meanwhile, it was believed that alienating remarks like these tipped Green support toward the NDP in forming BC’s next government.

BC Green party leader Sonia Furstenau said that, while she didn’t rule out working with Conservative leader John Rustad, she’s not impressed with his response to extreme views in his caucus.

Furstenau continued, saying that some of the elected Conservative candidates have said “truly disturbing, racist, dehumanizing, homophobic, and conspiratorial ‘things’.”

There are at least three First Nations in the riding Sapozhnikov would represent if she had been elected as this riding’s MLA. They are the T’sou-ke, Ditidaht and Malahat Nations.

Sapozhnikov explicitly denied the existence of Traditional Knowledge, labeling Indigenous peoples with derogatory and racist terms. She emphasized that the only knowledge that exists is “scientific method”.

The scientific method is not knowledge itself; it is how we break down theory. Traditional Knowledge is not ignorant of this process either.

“I don’t think she is right to say something like that. Brutal to say something like that. Well, once she said it, she should not be allowed to run—that’s one,” said T’Sou-ke Chief Larry Underwood when I reached out to him for his thoughts. “See, the hatred is still out there. And to say something like that is not right.” 

I also spoke to Nancy Turner, a University of Victoria professor of environmental studies and an internationally acclaimed ethnobiologist with more than 50 years of experience, for her thoughts.

“I’m almost speechless to hear this. It is a position of ignorance almost beyond belief…I feel sorry for the lack of education she has received,” said Turner. “I think these are deeply offensive comments.”

Turner has authored, co-authored, edited and co-edited more than 30 books, many of them exploring Traditional Knowledge systems and Traditional Land and Management systems developed by Indigenous peoples.

“I am blown away,” said Dididaht Nation Chief Judi Thomas during our chat over the phone. “Such hateful, radical, intolerant words. This is a critical moment for Canadians to reflect on their values. Our ways of being have survived despite the colonial efforts. We hold a lot of vast scientific Indigenous Knowledge… those racist comments are an attack on us, our identities.”

The Conservative Party office has not responded to calls for comments at time of writing.

Along with the racist remarks, Sapozhnikov shared her views during our interview on many other issues our society is currently dealing with. She criticized the government for not handling the pandemic well and emphasized that vaccines are one big scam. “They keep your life… they keep you totally under government control. You belong to the government.”

The topic of climate change and climate crisis was also commented on, with this global issue being another made-up thing in Sapozhnikov’s opinion. “Climate change is the least of people’s concerns,” she said.

There is no quick fix to these heavy issues of racism and inequality, but we all have to put the hard work into creating a better, more just society that we want to live in.

No one in any leadership position at VIU has made any official statements—neither President Deborah Saucier nor the Chair of the Department of Indigenous Studies, Allyson Anderson.

Sapozhnikov is no longer a candidate for the BC Conservative Party.

No comments were made condemning this interview or expressing any solidarity with students and communities that have been affected by the remarks and the broader legacy of these racist opinions.