The past few days have been a roller coaster for Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba after posts she made on social media about "Christian values" and the need for a national identity in Canada led first to backlash and her resignation from the Vancouver Police Board and then to an outpouring of support.In an interview with the Western Standard, she defended her comments, and explained that far from seeking to sow division as some suggested, her only goal was to bring Canadians of all backgrounds together in this great country of ours..Vancouver Police Board vice-chair resigns over posts decrying erasure of 'Christian values' in Canadian society.Sakoma-Fadugba came to Canada from Nigeria as an infant with her mother to join her father, who had just completed his PhD in geology in Montreal. She said that upon their arrival, her mother went to great lengths to immerse the family in Canadian society, and even went so far as eating "Canadian food" despite her aversion to cheese. Within the home, which her mother referred to as "the Republic of Nigeria," they held on to their important cultural norms and traditions."She wanted to ensure that she was raising children who would be able to live and thrive in this new place that she called home," Sakoma-Fadugba explained, noting that, "assimilation doesn't mean getting rid of the things that make you you; it means adopting new things that give you a shared identity with other people."She argued that this was missing in today's Canada, citing the example of a friend who moved here four years ago with her two sons, neither of whom could name any Canadian heroes."What then connects them to the kid that just came from Pakistan?" she asked. "What connects them to the kid that just moved from Ukraine? Where does this shared national pride come from? That's what scares me."Sakoma-Fadugba also lamented the fact that across Canada, events as benign as the Santa Claus Parade that once brought people together were being cancelled, questioning what then the community had to look forward to.It was these feelings that led her to speak out in the first place.The comment that perhaps drew the greatest backlash was about a Diwali celebration her son had been invited to at school. She had questioned why it was ok for everyone to take part in the overtly religious event while any mention of Jesus Christ around Christmas time was all but scrubbed from public spaces in favour of a watered down, secular version of the holiday.Sakoma-Fadugba clarified that she had not been trying to suggest that Diwali shouldn't be celebrated, but that Christians shouldn't have to modify their own holy days in the name of diversity.A number of people also took issue with the term "Christian values." She made it clear she had been referring to things like forgiveness, loving your neighbour, and doing your best with the hand your dealt, all of which help form the bedrock of Canadian society and are in no way controversial.When asked why people are so quick to dismiss anything Christian as inherently bad, Sakoma-Fadugba suggested it was because Christianity was perhaps the only religion to admit it had gotten things wrong and tried to keep up with the times. Those admissions, she added, had exposed the "historical tragedies" perpetrated by the church, and made it easy for detractors to ignore the successes and positive impacts the religion has had on the world.Sakoma-Fadugba equated it to the recent trend of targeting white people for the sins of their forefathers generations ago, lamenting that, "for so many years, [those of European descent] have been forced to look at their history only from a lens of tragedy.""I feel like white people have been made in the past few years to just bury their heads and just accept that they're bad," she added, pointing out that it seems as though western society has given "permission for people to kick 'em in the balls whenever they want to, without any remorse, and without even realizing that in some cases, these individuals are centuries removed from the bad that their ancestors did."She said that regardless of whether it was being done with good intentions, Canada was doing a "disservice to itself" by attempting to atone for the sins of its past by erasing any semblance of a shared past or national identity, and magnifying "anything that is furthest from Canadian, or European, or Christian."Sakoma-Fadugba dismissed any assertion that preserving a Canadian identity was remotely linked to white nationalism, making it clear it had nothing to do with race and everything to do with shared ideals and experiences."If I were white, I would feel the need to defend that, but I didn't feel the need to explain that because I thought it would be obvious," she said. "Why would a black person be calling for white nationalism?"
The past few days have been a roller coaster for Comfort Sakoma-Fadugba after posts she made on social media about "Christian values" and the need for a national identity in Canada led first to backlash and her resignation from the Vancouver Police Board and then to an outpouring of support.In an interview with the Western Standard, she defended her comments, and explained that far from seeking to sow division as some suggested, her only goal was to bring Canadians of all backgrounds together in this great country of ours..Vancouver Police Board vice-chair resigns over posts decrying erasure of 'Christian values' in Canadian society.Sakoma-Fadugba came to Canada from Nigeria as an infant with her mother to join her father, who had just completed his PhD in geology in Montreal. She said that upon their arrival, her mother went to great lengths to immerse the family in Canadian society, and even went so far as eating "Canadian food" despite her aversion to cheese. Within the home, which her mother referred to as "the Republic of Nigeria," they held on to their important cultural norms and traditions."She wanted to ensure that she was raising children who would be able to live and thrive in this new place that she called home," Sakoma-Fadugba explained, noting that, "assimilation doesn't mean getting rid of the things that make you you; it means adopting new things that give you a shared identity with other people."She argued that this was missing in today's Canada, citing the example of a friend who moved here four years ago with her two sons, neither of whom could name any Canadian heroes."What then connects them to the kid that just came from Pakistan?" she asked. "What connects them to the kid that just moved from Ukraine? Where does this shared national pride come from? That's what scares me."Sakoma-Fadugba also lamented the fact that across Canada, events as benign as the Santa Claus Parade that once brought people together were being cancelled, questioning what then the community had to look forward to.It was these feelings that led her to speak out in the first place.The comment that perhaps drew the greatest backlash was about a Diwali celebration her son had been invited to at school. She had questioned why it was ok for everyone to take part in the overtly religious event while any mention of Jesus Christ around Christmas time was all but scrubbed from public spaces in favour of a watered down, secular version of the holiday.Sakoma-Fadugba clarified that she had not been trying to suggest that Diwali shouldn't be celebrated, but that Christians shouldn't have to modify their own holy days in the name of diversity.A number of people also took issue with the term "Christian values." She made it clear she had been referring to things like forgiveness, loving your neighbour, and doing your best with the hand your dealt, all of which help form the bedrock of Canadian society and are in no way controversial.When asked why people are so quick to dismiss anything Christian as inherently bad, Sakoma-Fadugba suggested it was because Christianity was perhaps the only religion to admit it had gotten things wrong and tried to keep up with the times. Those admissions, she added, had exposed the "historical tragedies" perpetrated by the church, and made it easy for detractors to ignore the successes and positive impacts the religion has had on the world.Sakoma-Fadugba equated it to the recent trend of targeting white people for the sins of their forefathers generations ago, lamenting that, "for so many years, [those of European descent] have been forced to look at their history only from a lens of tragedy.""I feel like white people have been made in the past few years to just bury their heads and just accept that they're bad," she added, pointing out that it seems as though western society has given "permission for people to kick 'em in the balls whenever they want to, without any remorse, and without even realizing that in some cases, these individuals are centuries removed from the bad that their ancestors did."She said that regardless of whether it was being done with good intentions, Canada was doing a "disservice to itself" by attempting to atone for the sins of its past by erasing any semblance of a shared past or national identity, and magnifying "anything that is furthest from Canadian, or European, or Christian."Sakoma-Fadugba dismissed any assertion that preserving a Canadian identity was remotely linked to white nationalism, making it clear it had nothing to do with race and everything to do with shared ideals and experiences."If I were white, I would feel the need to defend that, but I didn't feel the need to explain that because I thought it would be obvious," she said. "Why would a black person be calling for white nationalism?"
