Disgraced former Kelowna NDP candidate Dayleen Van Ryswyk says her comments posted on an internet forum deemed as unacceptable by NDP leader Adrian Dix were taken out of context.
Van Ryswyk was forced to resign on the first official day of the BC election after the Liberals released a series of comments Van Ryswyck made on the forum dealing with First Nations and french speaking Canadians.
In the forum entitle, Strip Them of the Status Card, she wrote: “It’s not the status cards, it’s the fact that we have been paying out of the nose for generations for something that isn’t our doing. If their ancestors sold out too cheaply, it’s not my fault and I shouldn’t have to be paying for any mistake or whatever you want to call it from MY hard earned money.”
She has apologized for her remarks but insists she’s not a racist.
“What I said was taken out of context. All the stuff the Liberals put out there was very sized down so it was just little snippets of what I said. So it wasn’t what I said in its entirety. They left out the parts where I said that I wanted all people to be one person, to live together, to work together, to be treated fairly with respect and with dignity. And those things were all left out. So what it made me look like is what you saw which is not favourable. And that’s what I object to because that’s not me.”
She says her comments about french speaking Canadians was also taken out of context. She says the comments dealt with the fact the opening ceremonies at the 2010 Olympics were in french. She said she was tired of having french “stuffed down her throat.”
Van Ryswyk says her comments were about equality.
“There was plenty of french in there and we are in Western Canada and despite what some people in Quebec like to think, we do speak english over here. It isn’t illegal in British Columbia to have french signs, but it is illegal in Quebec to have english speaking signs. So my comment was to do with equality. And it was, what is good for them is good for us and we should all be treated the same.”
She says she was angry when she wrote the post.
Van Ryswyk says she will be running as an independent in the election.
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