Robinson steps down from cabinet post; calls for MLA’s resignation intensify

Selina Robinson’s comments have cost her a cabinet post.

The Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA announced Monday that, after many discussions with Premier David Eby and her caucus colleagues, they decided together she would relinquish her position as Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.

Robinson was roundly criticized for both minimizing the tragedy of mass displacement and excusing colonial expansion by saying Israel was founded on a: “crappy piece of land with nothing on it.”

Robinson subsequently apologized and committed to making amends including taking anti-Islamophobia training.

“This decision does not excuse my harmful comments, nor does it absolve me of the work I am committed to doing,” Robinson stated in Monday’s press release.

Eby called Robinson’s removal from cabinet a: “challenging but necessary decision.,” while speaking to press.

Robinson’s work to address the hurt she’s caused is “incompatible” with her work as Minister of Advanced Education, Eby said in video posted by CBC reporter Tarnjit Kaur Parmar.

“When you hurt somebody, you need to reach out to them and try to figure out what the best way is to reduce the harm and address the hurt that has been caused,” Eby said.

Speaking at a recent B’nai Brith Canada discussion, Robinson emphasized that her ministerial work in post-secondary education was particularly vital following the October 7 Hamas attack.

“As a Jewish minister, to have this file . . . it’s a damn good thing that I’m here, because I understand what’s happening better than any of my colleagues would,” she said at the time.

On Monday, the long-serving MLA reiterated she would not run in the next election but would: “remain committed to my constituents for the remainder of my term.”

Calls for Robinson’s resignation continued, with a coalition including The Palestinian-Canadian Academics and Artists Network and the Jewish Faculty Network publishing an open letter that called the MLA’s comments: “profoundly racist.”

The land in question was home to more than one million Palestinians prior to 1948, the vast majority of whom were expelled from their homes, the letter stated.

Other estimates suggest there were 1.4 million Arabs living in the area, with between 520,000 and one million displaced from their homes between 1947 and 1949.

“That such overtly racist and ignorant comments should be legitimated by a Minister of Post-Secondary Education at a time when Palestinians are facing colonial genocide is unconscionable,” the letter stated.

Author and activist Naomi Klein wrote that she was proud to be part of the group of scholars calling on Robinson to resign.

The MLA revealed “extreme anti-Palestinian beliefs, which have clearly informed her political interference in our institutions,” Klein wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims issued a similar statement, writing that Robinson, “has made a string of deeply offensive and ignorant remarks about Palestinian history, culture, and civilization.”

The council stated that, while they appreciated the engagement of Eby’s office, more needs to be done to make sure this never happens again.