VANCOUVER -- A B.C. MLA who was photographed in front of a Confederate flag says he wasn't aware the flag was hanging in the background when he posed for the picture.
Former education minister Mike Bernier shared the image on social media Monday, writing that Press Progress – an online news source funded by the left-wing Broadbent Institute – had found it while "trolling through" his personal Facebook page.
Bernier said the picture was taken six years ago, while he was hanging out with his old bandmates. It was posted on Facebook in April of this year.
"I didn't look up to see the flag that was there but obviously I don't support what that symbol represents. I in no way support hatred or bigotry," Bernier wrote.
"These gutter politics are simply a distraction from the issues facing British Columbia that the NDP are ignoring."
Shortly after Bernier shared the image, the MLA's supporters also posted a picture of Bernier posing with a group of people outside the B.C. legislature, including then-premier Christy Clark, behind a transgender flag. Bernier was education minister when the province introduced its sexual orientation and gender identity policy in 2016.
The Confederate flag image was uploaded to Facebook a couple months before the racial justice protests that swept across the U.S., and Bernier's profile was tagged in the picture. It remained tagged on Tuesday.
Some on social media questioned the MLA's explanation, and pointed out that he had already been an elected official for years by the time the image was taken. He was elected to Dawson Creek council in 2005, became mayor in 2008, and first took office as MLA in 2015.
"I'll believe him that he doesn't support the flag, but this is a bad defence of a bad photo and he should have known better," said Patrick Meehan, a ministerial assistant for the NDP government.
The Confederate flag is listed on the U.S. Anti-Defamation League's website as a hate symbol, though the organization acknowledges "a number of non-extremists still use the flag as a symbol of Southern heritage or pride."
The flag hanging from the ceiling behind Bernier is not an ordinary Confederate flag. Vancouver city councillor Pete Fry posted a tweet suggesting it's a variation that features a skeleton soldier and reads "The South Will Rise Again," though it is difficult to make out the details in the image.
