A British Columbia Conservative candidate awaiting the results of a recount that could determine who forms the provincial government used a racist slur to describe Indigenous people during an election night interview.

Marina Sapozhnikov, who came in just 23 votes behind the NDP’s Dana Lajeunesse in Juan de Fuca-Malahat, said that before Europeans arrived in North America, First Nations people “didn’t have sophisticated laws.” They were savages. They fought all the time.

When the Vancouver Island University student interviewing Sapozhnikov challenged the candidate, she responded: “Not 100 percent savage, maybe 90 percent savage.” »

During the hour-long interview, a recording of which was released Thursday evening to Postmedia News, Sapozhnikov spoke about his concerns about Indigenous history courses at British Columbia universities, his point of view that British Columbia’s adoption of the United Nations Indigenous Peoples’ Bill of Rights Act renders every non-Indigenous British Columbian a “second-class citizen” and stated that “90% of Indigenous people consume drugs”.

Sapozhnikov expanded on these views in a 30-minute phone interview Friday with Postmedia, saying Canadian university courses “only teach a one-sided story” when it comes to Indigenous history.

British Columbia Conservative Leader John Rustad said in an emailed statement Friday that he was “dismayed and deeply saddened” by Sapozhnikov’s comments. He said “his remarks do not reflect the values ​​of our party or the vision we have for a united British Columbia, and we take this issue seriously.”

“His comments are not only inaccurate but deeply damaging, painting a distorted picture of the communities I have worked with for many years,” Rustad said. “Our party defends unity, respect and reconciliation with indigenous peoples. We must continue to move forward with truth and compassion, not with harmful misconceptions that only divide us further.

But Rustad gave no indication that he was considering his withdrawal from the party.

Sapozhnikov is key to conservatives’ hopes of forming a government. His Vancouver Island riding is the most closely watched riding in the province after last weekend’s close election. Depending on the outcome of this weekend’s recount in this and other constituencies, Sapozhnikov could be elected an MP, which could be crucial in helping the conservatives potentially form a majority government.

Terry Teegee, elected regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations of British Columbia, said: “I am appalled that John Rustad will not expel him from his own party. »

Rustad’s condemnation of his candidate’s comments appears to be “just lip service,” Teegee said, “because he already did that with the other candidate who had derogatory remarks against the Palestinians,” referring to the Conservative MP-elect for South Surrey, Brent Chapman, which has attracted criticism. before the election because of his own racist comments, but he was not expelled from the party.

“He should expel these people from his party. If he wants to demonstrate what British Columbia is, it does not deserve to form the government. These are people who are supposed to potentially form the government of British Columbia,” Teegee said. “These are very racist comments.”

Ancient Vancouver Sunshine Columnist Stephen Hume, a journalism professor at Vancouver Island University, had each student contact a different candidate on Vancouver Island and ask if they could accompany them on the evening of the election when the results are announced, question him and report on them.

The day before Election Day, student Alyona Latsinnik contacted Sapozhnikov by email and asked if she could “follow live from your office as the results are announced.”

The candidate responded that the student would be “welcome to join” his team’s election night and provided the address.

On election night, Latsinnik asked Sapozhnikov a series of questions and they had a long conversation. Latsinnik did not ask Sapozhnikov about indigenous issues or reconciliation. But the conversation veered in that direction when the candidate asked Latsinnik about her studies and she responded that she was pursuing Indigenous studies.

“This is all a lie,” Sapozhnikov said.

“What do you mean?” » asked Latsinnik.

“They are rewriting indigenous history,” Sapozhnikov said. “They make them enlightened people. They didn’t have an alphabet.

On Friday, Sapozhnikov told Postmedia she was concerned that Canadian university courses on Indigenous history “have a certain focus.”

When asked what agenda she was talking about and who was behind it, she replied: “I really don’t know what the goal is, and I don’t want to attribute motivations to people. But if someone doesn’t represent the whole story, then you should ask those teaching it what the curriculum is and what their motivations are. But all I can say is that some things don’t add up. »

She clarified that she did not mean that indigenous people today were “savages,” but “hundreds of years ago.”

“I think we need to talk to indigenous people and find out what they think. I try to talk with some of them, but they don’t, they avoid this conversation,” Sapozhnikov said.

Later, Sapozhnikov, a former family doctor, said: “When I saw Aboriginal people as patients, I was not able to talk to them. Because they don’t talk. As soon as I asked sometimes very innocent questions, they would shut up. They don’t speak.

Langford-Juan de Luca NDP MP-elect Ravi Parmar said in an emailed statement that Sapozhnikov’s comments are “racist and abhorrent.”

“John Rustad protected each of his candidates who spread hatred. Now he says he’s appalled by these statements, but we’ve heard this before. If he truly believes these racist remarks are unacceptable, he will immediately remove this candidate from his party,” Parmar said. “If John Rustad does not act, he confirms once again that there are no consequences within his party for the spread of hatred.”

Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau said: “It is not enough for a leader to be dismayed and saddened. Actions speak louder than words.

“These comments constitute an extremely disturbing trend of dehumanizing comments from BC Conservatives towards Indigenous people. The large number of racist comments made by BC Conservative candidates indicates a systemic problem within the party that John Rustad has yet to resolve,” Furstenau said.

“While we have seen a worrying trend toward normalizing problematic statements in politics, it is important to recognize that these comments are made by people who expect to earn a taxpayer-funded salary to make decisions on behalf of all British Columbians. Their decisions in Parliament carry enormous weight, and we cannot simply put these comments aside.”

At one point in the election night interview, Sapozhnikov told Latsinnik, “If you want me to tell you what I think, go ahead and print it, I don’t care,” adding that if her teacher “dared to invite” her to come and speak to his class, she would do it.

Toward the end of her Friday interview with Postmedia, Sapozhnikov said she was “glad we’re having this conversation.”

“This is all very good, it will create some kind of discussion,” Sapozhnikov said. “We need a discussion on a personal level, it needs to be talked about.”