Ms. Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba is no longer a member of the Vancouver Police Board. Her departure resulted from public statements that did not align with the Board’s values. Sakoma’s words may not have been the only issue. She had charged taxpayers $11,300 for a trip to Halifax. (Return air tickets are available for less than $500 and we have more spendthrift functionaries than we need.)
Ms. Sakoma’s rambling statements on social media are now deleted. They included:
| Ms. Sakoma’s Comments | My Response |
| [Because of immigration] we can’t identify a common food, sport, or pastime that unites us. | Why should we? What we eat, see, or do is a matter of personal choice. Conservatives claim to value individual freedom but too often demand conformity. |
| Canada [is transforming] into a place where a shared identity is disappearing. I don’t recognize my country anymore. | True, it is transforming into a country that invites people of diverse backgrounds to participate in public affairs, people like Ms. Sakoma, a person of colour born in Nigeria. Years ago, Chinese immigration was prohibited, and Indigenous people were denied the right to vote. Women were considered inferior citizens. My Canada is a better place today. |
| The friendly smiles, courteous service, and even the simple “sorry” when someone bumps into you—traits that used to define our culture—are now fading away. | In her Globe and Mail article titled ‘Canadians should be less polite – and more civil‘, Alexandra Hudson writes “Calls for politeness are made by people in positions of power to keep the powerless powerless.” |
| The push for secular education isn’t about religion—it’s about erasing Christian values. | No, it is about NOT IMPOSING religious dogma on the large proportion of Canada’s population that does not identify as Christian. |
| The reason Canada is such a tolerant society is because of Christianity. | If true, as a Christian, why is Sakoma intolerant of other religions? |
| We need to move past the woke culture. | “WOKE” is an adjective that means being aware of and attentive to important social and political issues, especially those related to racial and social justice. Conservatives like to use the word as a pejorative when they complain about people who oppose social injustice. |
| [We have created} a judicial system where parents can be incarcerated for refusing to let their minor child undergo gender transitions and irreversible body alterations. | You won’t find an example in BC court records of what Sakoma alleges. You will find a case where a parent was jailed for criminal contempt after ignoring a publication ban that forbade him from publicly identifying his transgender son. |
The makeup of the police board probably rates below 1 on a scale of 100 when we consider the importance of public issues. But it revealed a serious split in the BC Conservative Party. As journalist Paul Willcocks said, that was fast.
Astute observers knew this was coming, but few expected it to happen less than a month after BC Conservative MLAs were sworn in. Leader John Rustad has been supportive and tolerant of right-wing radicals, but they appear to be less tolerant of him and the centrists in the BC Conservative Party. Almost one-third of Conservative MLAs complained after fellow MLA Elenore Sturko agreed that Ms. Sakoma’s statements were inappropriate. They demanded Ms. Sturko be disciplined.
Signatories of the letter have attracted attention previously for their disturbing views.
Brent Chapman wrote about Muslims, “They are all little inbred walking, talking, breathing time bombs. Figuratively and quite literally.”
Sharon Harwell believes the USA’s 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Kristina Loewen compared policies for mitigating the effects of COVID to The Holocaust. She preferred to promote a multi-level marketing company that sold plant extracts as cures for disease.
Although people from all walks of life and ethnicities end up on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Dallas Brodie said it is up to First Nations to take responsibility for impoverished people found there.
Anna Kindy has been affiliated with far-right demonstrators, including Stand United, which has campaigned against SOGI, climate change, public health measures, and promoted a conspiracy theory claiming the COVID pandemic was created by global elites to take control of the international economy and establish a “new world order.”
A link in the MLAs’ letter is revealing. If they rely on Rebel News, that may explain their contorted points of view. Rebel News survives by promoting conservative victimhood and by selling disinformation.
While Conservatives usually describe themselves as supporters of individual freedom, what they appear to mean is that others are only free to be like them.
December 11 Update
Rustad had been silent about the issue until Monday night when he posted on social media that he had shared a meal with Sakoma-Fadugba in her home and invited Sturko to meet with her as well.
In the divide between the right and the far-right, JOHN RUSTAD stands with the radicals.
It is time for moderates among the BC Conservatives to assert control or leave their party. British Columbia is not well served by an Official Opposition that favours racism and a Christian theocracy.
Categories: Conservatives, BC, Justice
in-sights.ca 
I wondered how long it would take for their bigotry to be exposed. Admire Sturko for speaking up but knew she would eventually be thrown under the bus. Doesn’t fit their ‘demographic’ This party does not represent the BC I was born & raised in.
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Sakoma says she doesn’t recognize the country anymore.
True. For anyone beyond middle age, it has changed. Today, I watched a small group of young South Asian boys wearing patkas. They were entering an athletic facility. Yes, they looked different than my sons. So what?
The reality is that Canada’s population is diverse. Every human deserves equal rights. They can follow whatever religion they choose or follow no religion. They can determine their own sexual orientation or gender identity.
We can all live together in harmony if we accept the rights of others to live however they want as long as they do no harm to others.
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