Elected and Former Politicians Calling For Aaron Gunn To Step Down

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - A growing number of elected and former politicians in the North Island Powell River riding are calling upon the Conservative Party to withdraw their endorsement of Aaron Gunn, and demand he withdraw his candidacy. There were already 19 names on this jpoint letter when Cortes Currents spoke to the two women spearheaded this campaign.

 “This has all happened within the last 48 hours. I believe (Bob Chamberlain) a former Vice President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs who sent out the first call for Gunn to be removed. After that many other chiefs supported the call for him to step down,” explained Arzeena Hamir, a former Regional Director of Area B in the Comox Valley Regional District.

 Wendy Morin, a City Councillor from Courtney, added. “When I saw the repeated posts of comments that Aaron Gunn has made, particularly that the experience of residential schools etc was not genocide, that's what really struck me as really harmful to First Nations communities in our region. Especially since the House of Commons unanimously stated that residential schools were genocide and, that was from all parties, including the onservatives. I thought, wow, this is someone who's a candidate who's not even aligned with the previous MPs in the House of Commons. I just felt that it was really important to show solidarity with the First Nations communities in our region, in the region where Aaron Gun is running.”

Arzeena Hamir:  “As elected and former elected officials, we just wanted to support First Nations leaders in really emphasizing that call because it's just an unacceptable viewpoint.”

Wendy Morin: “We felt that it was important to show leadership on this and to show that local leaders across all different backgrounds, we don't all agree with each other. We don't all vote the same way, but on this issue we were very united.”

Arzeena Hamir: “She and I sat down and crafted the letter and then sent it out for everybody else to sign.”

Robyn Mawhinney, from Area C was one of the recipients,   “I, as a director in the Stratcona Regional District know that within the administrative boundaries of the Strathcona Regional District, there are 11 First Nations and there are many more First Nations when you look at the entirety of the North Island Powell River riding. I believe that reconciliation is multifaceted and much more than only economic reconciliation. I have grave concerns with our riding being represented by someone who doesn't appear to take this full spectrum of reconciliation seriously. First Nations Leadership Council and many other First Nations leaders have expressed concerns with Aaron Gunn and I support them.”

Arzeena Hamir:  “We're not asking for the conservatives to not put up a candidate because everyone has a right to representation, but that candidate obviously was not vetted properly. Apart from his very awful views on First Nations, there's just a long list of very disturbing comments that this person has made. We don't believe that people like that should take the platform of a candidate.”

“I think many people who just vote Conservative normally, don't even realize what he stands for. So this part of this letter is to raise that awareness in people so that they know, and hopefully choose otherwise.”