Kellen Taniguchi -
Opposition Leader Rachel Notley speaks about the UCP electing Danielle Smith as their new leader Danielle Smith during a news conference along the North Saskatchewan River on Oct. 7, 2022, in Edmonton.© Shaughn Butts
Rachel Notley is calling on Premier Danielle Smith to apologize and withdraw her comment calling unvaccinated people the most discriminated against group of her lifetime.
The Opposition NDP leader said the comment tarnishes the province’s reputation and has “deeply hurt” hundreds of thousands of Albertans. She said she understands the discrimination Albertans face each and every day due to characteristics they have no choice over.
“Given the amount of hurt and pain that has generally been expressed to us over the last two days, I call on Premier Danielle Smith to reconsider her decision to not apologize and, in fact, to offer an immediate and authentic apology to the hundreds of thousands of Albertans who’s experiences she has negated and who her remarks have hurt,” Notley told reporters Thursday.
Smith issued a statement on Wednesday explaining the “intention” of her comment, made on her first day in office.
“My intention was to underline the mistreatment of individuals who chose not to be vaccinated and were punished by not being able to work, travel, or in some cases, see loved ones,” Smith said during a Tuesday news conference.
“I want to be clear that I did not intend to trivialize in any way the discrimination faced by minority communities and other persecuted groups both here in Canada and around the world, or to create any false equivalencies to the terrible historical discrimination and persecution suffered by so many minority groups over the last decades and centuries.”
Notley said Smith’s statement isn’t acceptable and she needs to genuinely apologize to Albertans. She added Smith’s comment and statement shows Alberta has a leader who is “incapable” of demonstrating good judgment initially and is incapable of understanding when she’s made a mistake.
“She then has to go further and withdraw her previous comments and send a message to people outside of Alberta that she understands the damage that they did, that Alberta is actually an open and welcoming place for folks around the world,” she said.
Notley said the comment will have a negative impact on the ability to attract people to Alberta. She added Smith’s comment landed in a story in Forbes Magazine.
“This is a story about Alberta in one of the world’s most well-read economic publications,” said Notley.
“It is not a good story about Alberta, it is a story that hurts Alberta’s reputation and we will now have to spend months undoing it.”
‘She’s not going to apologize’
Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said Thursday Smith’s comment on Tuesday was completely wrong and offensive.
“That’s why she tried to clarify, not apologize, but tried to clarify yesterday by saying, no, she wasn’t trying to rank different forms of discrimination.
Amid calls for the new premier to apologize for her comment, Bratt said he isn’t expecting Smith to do so.
“She’s not going to apologize. She doesn’t feel she said anything wrong,” said Bratt.
“This was not a slip of the tongue. This was consistent with her campaign. So, no she is not going to apologize and she’s already in trouble with some of her supporters with the waffling of the sovereignty act, she’s not going to waffle on COVID.”
Bratt added that Smith’s supporters don’t want her to apologize.
“The people who support her are not going to let her apologize. They want her to do this, they want payback,” he said.
Mekwun Moses, an Alberta Indigenous activist who has organized anti-racism rallies and rallies for residential school awareness, said Smith, who is 51 years old, was alive when residential schools closed in 1996 and that Smith’s comment offended her .
“For her to say within her lifetime puts more discrimination on First Nations people because she’s not recognizing that they didn’t have their freedom, that they didn’t get to choose a lot of things like being put on reserves,” said Moses.
Postmedia reached out to Smith’s press secretary for comment but did not hear back prior to deadline.
ktaniguchi@postmedia.com
twitter.com/kellentaniguchi
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