Nativity scene in downtown Kelowna with the sign that says "Keep Christ in Christmas".
Image Credit: Kelowna Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists Association
December 24, 2024 - 7:00 PM
Following the Kelowna “Keep Christ in Christmas” sign controversy, the BC Conservative Party put out a petition with the heading “Don’t cancel Christmas”.
The “Don’t cancel Christmas” online petition says the party wants to, “stop the woke mob from cancelling Christmas.”
“Christmas, for Canada’s Christians, is a sacred celebration honouring the birth of Jesus Christ, carrying with it a message of hope, love, and renewal,” the petition said. “Certain ‘woke’ critics, much like Grinches nibbling at candy canes, are trying to snuff out these uplifting traditions, good cheer, and warm embraces.”
The BC Conservatives responded to a request for comment from iNFOnews.ca, but didn’t answer several questions.
Instead, the party sent a link and a synopsis of a news story from CTV News about one teacher in Saanich who removed “Santa”, “Rudolph”, and “Christmas” from a song students were singing.
iNFOnews.ca reached out to numerous MLAs including Kristina Loewen, Tara Armstrong, and Gavin Dew, none of whom responded to requests for comment. The petition does not say how it will help the party “stand against the woke mob.”
When asked, the party did not say how it intends to use the petition, nor did it respond to criticism voiced by the Kelowna Atheist, Sceptics, and Humanists Association.
The association’s spokesperson Nina George said no one is trying to stop anyone from celebrating Christmas how they choose.
“Nobody's canceling Christmas,” she said. “There's people, I think, who don't understand the separation of church and state.”
READ MORE: 'UNDER ATTACK': MLAs 'defend' Kelowna's 'Keep Christ in Christmas' sign
George said she thinks the petition is meant to divide people.
“It's a way for the Conservatives to create this idea that there's a war,” she said. “They're telling people that if you don't celebrate it in the sacred way, then you're woke.”
Although the party didn’t mention the controversy in Kelowna in its email, George said she thinks it influenced the party’s decision to put out this petition.
A sign that read “Keep Christ in Christmas” was taken down from a Nativity scene display on public property in downtown Kelowna days before a text message was sent out with a link to a petition from the BC Conservatives.
George said the matter of the sign on public property, and the petition, are about the separation of church and state rather than an attempt to cancel Christmas.
“Most people in Kelowna are not even religious, 54 per cent, according to the 2021 census,” she said. “They just have to pit people against other people.”
Kelowna Centre Conservative MLA Kristina Loewen put out a video where she said Christianity is under attack.
"When one religion is under attack, all other religions can be attacked,” she said in the video on X. “I just wanted to come on here as one of your MLAs and in unity with the other MLAs from the Kelowna and West Kelowna areas and just let you know that we believe that it's an important detail that Christmas is a Christian holiday and that it's important to acknowledge and remember and defend."
George said using language like “woke mob” adds to the divisiveness intended in the petition.
“What woke mob? That is so inflammatory,” she said. “Their definition of what Canadian values are is the sacredness of Christianity. And if you don't believe in that, then you're part of the woke mob.”
Click here for the petition.
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