New Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's comments on discrimination cause backlash across Canada, October 12, 2022. (Photo: The Canadian Press)

By The Canadian Press

New Alberta Premier Danielle Smith backtracking on controversial comments

Oct 12, 2022 | 2:02 PM

EDMONTON, AB – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she didn’t intend to trivialize discrimination faced by minority communities when she suggested unvaccinated people faced the most discrimination she’s ever seen in her lifetime.

Smith, who was sworn in yesterday as the province’s new premier, says in a statement that she wasn’t trying to create false equivalencies to historical discrimination and persecution suffered by many minority groups in the past decades and centuries.

She says she is committed to listening and addressing the issues affecting those communities.

Smith’s comments about the unvaccinated have led to criticism from across Canada.

British Columbia Premier John Horgan called her comments — quote — “laughable.”

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Jewish Edmonton says on social media it has also reached out to Smith’s office to express its concerns with her comments and notes it is keen to meet with her to discuss antisemitism and discrimination in the community.

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, says Smith’s comments are also offensive because there was still forced sterilization and residential schools in her lifetime.

Read Danielle Smith’s full statement regarding her comments.

Read more: B.C. Premier John Horgan calls Alberta premier’s comments on unvaccinated “laughable”

Read more: United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith sworn in as Alberta’s new premier