Petition to remove controversial Conservative candidate reaches 15K signatures

(Source: YouTube/Aaron Gunn)

A petition for the Conservative Party to remove a controversial candidate from Vancouver Island has reached 15,000 signatures.

Aaron Gunn, who is running in the North Island-Powell River riding, has come under fire over social media posts he’s made about residential schools and Canada’s treatment of Indigenous people.

That includes a 2020 post in which Gunn wrote, “There was no genocide. Stop lying to people and read a book.”

An online petition calling for the candidate’s removal notes the House of Commons recognized the residential school system as an act of genocide in 2022.

“It is unacceptable for a prospective Member of Parliament to dispute the facts of Canada’s colonial history,” reads the petition.

“The Truth and Reconciliation Commission brought to light the dark history of Canada’s residential schools as sites of rampant abuse, designed to erase Indigenous cultures, where children were torn from their families, stripped of their languages, and subjected to systemic harm.”

In another social media post from 2021, Gunn said the schools were “asked for by Indigenous bands in Eastern Ontario.”

Prior to the petition, the candidate faced criticism from the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, local mayors in his riding, and others.

Gunn has defended himself online, writing: “I have always been firm in recognizing the truly horrific events that transpired in residential schools, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is simply false.”

He did not respond to a previous request for comment from CTV News.

Too late to change ballots

The deadline for replacing candidates ahead of Canada’s April 28 federal election passed on Monday. That means the ballots in North Island-Powell River would still identify Gunn as a Conservative, even if he were expelled from the party.

Leader Pierre Poilievre has shown no indication that will happen. While campaigning in B.C. last weekend, the Conservative leader stood behind Gunn, calling the criticisms levelled against him “misinformation.”

“He wants to continue to condemn the residential schools and build stronger partnerships with First Nations people to unlock our resources so that we can produce incredible paycheques and opportunities for First Nations communities right across British Columbia,” Poilievre said Saturday.

CTV News reached out to the Conservatives for a response to the petition on Friday, at the end of the third week of the election campaign, but did not receive an immediate response.

Before running for the federal Conservatives, Gunn sought the leadership of the now-defunct B.C. Liberal Party in 2021. That right-of-centre party, which was not affiliated with the federal Liberals, rejected Gunn’s bid, saying his candidacy would be inconsistent with its commitment to reconciliation.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ben Miljure