The Guardian (Charlottetown)

Church comments force the head of B.C. Civil Liberties to step down

- TYLER DAWSON

The head of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Associatio­n — one of the most significan­t civil rights groups in the country — has left her job following an uproar after a social media post that seemed to celebrate the burning of Catholic churches.

In late June, Harsha Walia quote-tweeted a Vice news report regarding Catholic churches that had been burned, following the discoverie­s of hundreds of unmarked graves near the sites of former residentia­l schools.

“Burn it all down,” Walia wrote.

On Friday, the British Columbia Civil Liberties Associatio­n announced Walia had resigned and that the board of directors had accepted her resignatio­n “with heavy hearts.”

In a separate letter, the board of directors said, following Walia’s tweet, the organizati­on faced “inexcusabl­e racism and misogyny and threats to physical and mental safety.”

“We encountere­d a wave of hateful commentary, fueled by the fact that our executive director is a racialized woman leader.”

Still, the associatio­n said

Walia’s tweet, “using a particular turn of phrase in that context” — ie. “burn it all down” — “left some people with the wrong impression about the values and principles to which we adhere.”

“We regret the misunderst­anding that was caused by the tweet and apologize for the harm the words caused,” the letter said.

The initial tweet caused an uproar among right-wing bloggers and conservati­ve commentato­rs in Canada — and abroad.

Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host, dedicated a segment to church burnings, and called Walia “a monster” in his commentary, before moving on to former Liberal adviser Gerald Butts, who suggested in a tweet that the burning of churches might be “understand­able.”

Throughout the drama, Walia has had her supporters; some suggested the idiomatic “burn it all down” had been misconstru­ed by her critics. In a piece written for The Tyee, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, the head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, wrote that “burn it all down” is a call for decoloniza­tion not arson, and said the outrage is “pearl clutching.”

 ?? CAELIE FRAMPTON • POSTMEDIA NEWS ?? Harsha Walia, the head of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Associatio­n — one of the most significan­t civil rights groups in the country — has left her job.
CAELIE FRAMPTON • POSTMEDIA NEWS Harsha Walia, the head of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Associatio­n — one of the most significan­t civil rights groups in the country — has left her job.

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