WARNING: This story contains graphic content that some readers might find disturbing. Discretion is advised.
A school district byelection set for two trustee positions in Prince George next month has caught the attention of B.C.’s education minister after video surfaced of one candidate’s remarks during a university lecture.
In clips of the online lecture in 2020, then-instructor at the University of Northern B.C. Stuart Parker can be heard suggesting, with much profanity, that someone abusing their own child is acceptable in society while abusing someone else’s child is not.
In another clip, Parker can be heard saying, “Look at all these, like, really hot white girls. Like, that’s crazy. I’ve never seen that when I taught in Vancouver.”
Several of Parker’s former students raised serious concerns about a man they said should not be involved with children. CKPG News has protected the identities of two such students who both spoke about his behaviour.
Quoted by The Prince George Citizen, which was first to publish the videos, Parker said he’d been facing extraordinary pressure in his domestic, professional and political lives.
“As a person that suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, I experienced an episode of triggering (and) I don’t recall most of what happened during the day in question,” he was quoted as saying during a phone interview on Thursday night.
“Following that day, I went to Vancouver to receive additional help with my PTSD and the way it had flared up.”
On Friday afternoon, Parker further responded to the videos in a 10-minute YouTube clip, in which he says the video on the Citizen website is “shorter and more edited” than one he was shown more than a year ago.
“That narrative (of me endorsing childhood sexual abuse of children) is absolutely contrary to my values, my principles, and, of course, my prepared lecture plan for that fateful day in September 2020,.”
He went on to reveal that he survived “a number of episodes of sexual abuse” when he was a child, and gave more details about what had happened in his personal and professional life on the day of the “incoherent and disjointed” lecture.
“I have no idea why I made the decision I did, and I cannot fully account for all of what I said — particularly what appears at least to be a gratuitous and wholly inappropriate statement about how some of my students looked that day,” Parker said.
“I express … my contrition, my apologies, and my acceptance of responsibility for all of the adverse consequences that flowed from me choosing to work on a day I was not fit to.”
He said he continues to believe that sexual violence against children “is not meaningfully or effectively illegal in this society … as long as the assailant is known to the child.”
After the videos surfaced, Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside released a statement condemning Parker’s comments during the lecture.
“The comments in this video are vile, deeply disturbing and harmful to children. They have no place in our society, let alone our education system,” Whiteside said.
“The people and families of Prince George deserve elected representatives who stand for safe, inclusive learning environments — not those who promote dangerous views that jeopardize the safety and wellbeing of children. Mr. Parker must take responsibility for his harmful speech, apologize unequivocally and immediately withdraw from this byelection.”
In an email to Global News, the education ministry said an individual school board cannot make its own rules about trustee eligibility, nor deny someone from running for office as a school trustee.
The ministry also confirmed that Parker has not submitted paperwork to confirm his candidacy, but that the nomination period has not yet closed.
Global News has reached out to Parker for additional comment.
– with files from Doyle Potenteau