Dayleen Van Ryswyk, the disgraced NDP candidate booted from the party for racist remarks, says she will run as an independent in Kelowna-Mission.
The ex-NDP candidate apologized for the comments on Wednesday, saying she’s not racist. Her comments, she added, were taken out of context.
“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,” Van Ryswyk told Global Okanagan in an interview.
Van Ryswyk was forced to resign on the first day of the B.C. election race over a backlash from “hateful” comments she made in a 2009 online forum.
In a thread titled “Strip Them of the Status Card” a user named Dayleen had harsh words for First Nations.
“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,” read the post.
The comments surfaced in a news release from the B.C. Liberals on Tuesday.
B.C. NDP have nominated Tish Lakes, an executive director of a Kelowna non-profit legal society, to run in Van Ryswyk's place.
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