Smith didn't mean to trivialize discrimination of others in remarks about unvaccinated, she says

New Alberta Premier Danielle Smithsays she didn't mean to downplay discrimination against minoritycommunities when she said unvaccinated people have received the worst discrimination of any group in more than 50 years.

"I want to be clear that I did not intend to trivialize in any way the discrimination faced by minority communities and other persecuted groups both here in Canada and around the worldor to create any false equivalencies to the terrible historical discrimination and persecution suffered by somany minority groups over the last decades and centuries," she wrote in a statement.

"I am committed to listening, learning and addressing the issues affecting minority communities."

The statement says her office will be setting up meetings to help her better understand what those communities are facing and that Canadians need to work together to end all discrimination.

On Tuesday, during Smith's first hours as Alberta's premier, she said people who didn't get COVID-19 vaccines faced the most discrimination.

"They have been the most discriminated against group that I've ever witnessed in my lifetime," she said.

"This has been an extraordinary time, in the last year in particular, and Iwant people to know that I find that unacceptable."

WATCH|'It made me angry,' Indigenous scholar says of premier's comment:

'It made me angry,' Indigenous scholar says of premier's comment

2 years ago

Duration 4:03

Indigenous scholar Rachel Snow, a member of the Stoney Nakoda Nations, says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith should not be in a position of leadership following her offer of clarification about the discrimination she said the unvaccinated in Alberta faced in the past year.

She promisedduring the United Conservative Party leadership race that if elected she would amend the Alberta Human Rights Act toadd vaccination status as a grounds subject to protection from discrimination, the way race, sexual orientation and religion are currently protected.

Smith said she knows society broadly was working to get to a high level of vaccination, but now it's time to treat the virus as endemic, similar toinfluenza.

'I don't have a choice to have the dark skin I have'

Tuesday's comments led to widespread backlash against the premier from political critics, community leaders and a fellow premier.

"She has marginalized and overlooked the trauma, the ongoing harm, the discrimination, the racism [against]First Nations peoples. And we were here before there was an Alberta, so we have been fighting a long battle," Rachel Snow, an Indigenous legal scholar and member of the Stoney NakodaNations, told CBC News.

Alberta's last residential school wasn't closed until the 1990s.

The leader of the Official Oppositionreacted to Smith's comments, saying an apology was needed.

"We are trying to draw people to Alberta.The ignorant, harmful comments about vaccines made by the new premier hurt our reputation and, by extension, our economic future. She must apologize immediately," NDP Leader Rachel Notley wrote on Twitter.

WATCH|Smith comments showed 'naivete or lack of education or lack of moral compass':

Smith comments showed 'naivete or lack of education or lack of moral compass'

2 years ago

Duration 3:54

Indigenous scholar Rachel Snow, a member of the Stoney Nakoda Nations, and Anila Lee Yuen, CEO of the Centre for Newcomers in Calgary, say Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's comments about the unvaccinated being the most discriminated-against group she has ever witnessed were hurtful and detrimental.

Anila Lee Yuen, the CEO of the Centre for Newcomers in Calgary, also commented.

"I felt it in my stomach and my heart sank and I thought, 'Here we go again, we're going to have to defend our right to be here," she said.

"I don't have a choice to have the dark skin I have, I don't have the choice to be born a woman."

Outgoing B.C. Premier John Horgan also scoffed at Smith's comparison.

"It's laughable, quite frankly," he told CFAX 1070'sAl Ferrabyon Wednesday.

"These are critical times, and for the incoming premier to focus on a sliver of the population who chose not to get vaccinated when there are all these other challenges seems short-sighted to me, and I just disagree with her."

At least one faith group has asked to meet with Smith.

"We have reached out to the premier's office to express our concerns surrounding these comments andare keen on meeting with the premier to discuss antisemitism, discrimination in our community & others in Alberta, the need for mandatory Holocaust education & the story of Alberta's Jewish community," the Jewish Federation of Edmonton wrote in a social media statement.