Milobar responds to Findlay's claim he has 'conflict of interest' on DRIPA, land rights because family is Indigenous

During the latest BC Conservative leadership debate, Kerry-Lynne Findlay suggested that Peter Milobar having an Indigenous wife might present a "conflict of interest" on issues related to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and land rights.

Milobar has dismissed the allegations, saying they have no merit.

In a video response posted to X, Milobar directly addressed the controversy.

He said many supporters had reached out to denounce Findlay's comments and thanked them for their support. Milobar Stated he had confronted the remarks immediately on stage during the debate and was the only candidate to do so.

In his video, he criticized the other candidates — particularly Iain Black — for remaining silent in the moment and then "leveraging my family once again" for political gain 24 hours later.

Milobar described the situation as "ridiculous" and said British Columbians "don't want this garbage," adding that the focus should remain on defeating the NDP rather than engaging in personal attacks.

Black had responded to Findlay's attack on X, saying, "dividing people based on race is how David Eby won last time. I believe we are all equal."

He argued that Kerry-Lynne's comments are now becoming a "clear pattern of behaviour."

He went on to suggest that the Conservatives lost the 2024 election "in part due to the racist comments made" by the candidate for Surrey-South, Brent Chapman, "who happens to be the husband of Kerry-Lynne Findlay."

Black said it was "reprehensible" that Findlay has not denounced her husband's comments since the 2024 election. Additionally, he recounted a moment at the Canada Strong and Free Vancouver leadership debate where he gave Findlay "an opportunity to denounce the Nazi propaganda messaging of Tara Armstrong" who has endorsed her.

Other viewers described Findlay’s comments at the GlobalTV debate as racist, legally inept, strategically reckless, and evidence of poor judgment.

Even those who disagree with Milobar's record on Indigenous-related issues noted Findlay could have gone about it differently.

"KLF messed up the issue with Peter," OneBC Communications Director Wyatt Claypool wrote in a post on X. "Peter has multiple family connections (not just his wife) to the Kamloops band and other bands and it seems to explain his borderline silence on the Kamloops band’s title claim for the entire city, the Ajax mine, and Sun Peaks. There is obviously no problem with being an indigenous person or being related to indigenous people while in politics."

He argued, however, that "there becomes a high suspicion of a conflict of interest when you have been the mayor of Kamloops and now an MLA for Kamloops and been consistently silent about the title claim over the entire city of Kamloops."

The moment has become one of the most talked-about exchanges of the leadership race, with critics arguing it crossed a line by injecting family background into policy debate, while some defenders maintain that potential conflicts of interest in Indigenous policy and land claims are legitimate to discuss.