The Canadian Green Party on Friday issued a press release condemning “statements made by former candidate” Monika Schaefer. Green Party leader MP Elizabeth May said in the same press release: “I am shocked by comments made by Ms. Schaefer and I condemn her terribly misguided and untrue statements. Ms. Schaefer does not represent the values of the Green Party nor of our membership.”
It began on Thursday, when B’nai Brith Canada exposed Schaefer—the Green Party’s candidate in Alberta in 2006, 2008 and 2011—as denying the Holocaust in a homemade YouTube video. Schaefer described the Holocaust as “the most persistent lie in all of history,” and claimed that victims of Nazi death camps “were kept as healthy and as well-fed as was possible,” and that “there were no gas chambers there.” She denounced “the 6-million lie” and recommended the writings of Ernst Zündel, a German Holocaust denier who had been deported from Canada in 2005.
The Green Party of Canada’s press release “condemns in the strongest possible terms comments by Monika Schaefer, a former candidate, regarding her views on the Holocaust.”
Emily McMillan, Executive Director of the Green Party of Canada, said “Monika Schaefer’s comments denying the Holocaust are outrageous and shocking. Ms. Schaefer has no standing within the Green Party of Canada, and her views are exclusively her own. Ms. Schaefer was rejected as a potential Green candidate for the riding of Yellowhead prior to the 2015 federal election, and also rejected as a potential candidate for the 2014 by-election in Fort McMurray-Athabasca.”
“In light of Ms. Schaefer’s untrue statements made in a recent online video, we will be initiating the process to terminate her membership with the Green Party of Canada at the earliest possible opportunity,” McMillan added.
A Green Party member may be expelled by a resolution of Federal Council or a General Meeting of members. The Party will request a motion be put forward to terminate Schaefer’s membership at its next Federal Council meeting, according to the press release.