Selina Robinson

Selina Mae Robinson (née Dardick; born 1964) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2013 provincial election. She represents the electoral district of Coquitlam-Maillardville as an Independent. She previously served in the cabinet of British Columbia between 2017 and 2024 as a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP).

Biography
Born in Montreal as Selina Dardick, she moved with her parents to Richmond, British Columbia, in 1978. After graduating from Simon Fraser University with a master's degree in counselling psychology, she joined the Jewish Family Service Agency, eventually becoming its associate executive director. A resident of Coquitlam since 1994, she worked as a family therapist before entering politics as a member of Coquitlam City Council.

In September 2012, Robinson announced her intention to seek the BC NDP nomination for Coquitlam-Maillardville in the next provincial election; she was acclaimed the NDP's candidate for the riding in November that year. She was initially declared defeated on election night in 2013, with Steve Kim of the BC Liberals deemed winner by 105 votes. However, once absentee ballots were counted, she pulled ahead to win the riding by a 35-vote margin over Kim. A judicial recount confirmed Robinson's victory by a final margin of 41 votes. She served as critic for mental health and addictions, seniors, local government and sports in the NDP shadow cabinet.

In the 2017 provincial election, Robinson once again faced Steve Kim, this time winning by more than 2400 votes. She was subsequently appointed Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing in the new BC NDP government under Premier John Horgan. Following the resignation of Jinny Sims from cabinet in October 2019, Robinson briefly assumed the role of Minister of Citizens' Services, until Anne Kang took over the position in January 2020.

Following her re-election in 2020, she was appointed Minister of Finance. After Horgan announced his retirement as premier and party leader in 2022, Robinson considered running to replace him before deciding otherwise. On December 7, 2022, she was appointed Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills by Premier David Eby.

Following the terrorist attack on southern Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, Robinson claimed that Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth called her "every single day from Oct. 7 for about 10 days, to report in to me about what was happening on the ground". Robinson worked with B'nai Brith to mandate Holocaust education in the school curriculum which would be organized by CIJA, an organization that has been pivotal in lobbying Canadian politicians to support Israel.

In early 2024, Robinson faced criticism for comments made during an online event hosted by B'nai Brith Canada, claiming that Israel was founded on "a crappy piece of land with nothing on it – you know, there were several hundred thousand people but other than that, it didn’t produce an economy. It couldn’t grow things it didn’t have anything on it". Adel Iskandar, a professor at Simon Fraser University, stated that "There’s absolutely no history book that would affirm Minister Robinson’s articulation of that period in time... Obviously it was not a 'crappy piece of land'. It is the land that has had over 15,000 years of human habitability", and describing the suggestion that the land was empty as a "fundamentally colonialist narrative". Federal NDP MP Matthew Green characterised Robinson's comments as historically inaccurate and "deeply derogatory and insensitive", and called on Eby to reconsider Robinson's ministerial position. Robinson apologised for the comments later that week, calling them "disrespectful," continuing to clarify "I was referring to the fact that the land has limited natural resources". In a statement, Eby said that Robinson's claim was "wrong and unacceptable... I thank her for withdrawing the comments and apologizing unreservedly", though Robinson did not publicly withdraw the comment.

On February 1, 2024, the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC (FPSE) alongside the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) released a statement calling on David Eby to call for the immediate resignation of Robinson. FPSE also describe Robinson as undermining "the democratic principles of freedom of expression, academic freedom, and a college and university system free of direct manipulation by the provincial government" given that Robinson had been directly involved in pressuring Langara College to fire Dr. Natalie Knight regarding her comments in support of the 7th October Massacre. They cite Robinson, retweeting a call by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) for Langara to fire Knight and that Robinson had later met with the College to express concerns about Knight’s reinstatement.

On February 5, 2024, she was dismissed from her position as Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills because of comments about Israel being founded on a 'crappy piece of land,', which reflected denial of the violence of colonialism and potential support for a settler colony, although Robinson clarified she was referring to the fact that the land has limited natural resources. After a protest of the BC NDP retreat in Surrey, BC, Robinson was dismissed. Following her dismissal, she announced she feels unsupported as a Jewish woman in her party, that she faced double standards by her party and would not seek re-election as an MLA at the 2024 election.

On March 6, 2024, she announced she would sit as an independent.