Conservative candidate Mike Hicks says 'conquered' comment about First Nations was taken out of context

At a debate on 9 October 2026 in the Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding, Mike Hicks said 'First Nations have to be conquered.' A moderator cut him off mid-sentence, according to Abbotsford News reporter Mark Page. Hicks says the sentence was not finished when it was cut, and that the meaning was different from how it was reported.

Hicks told Abbotsford News: 'In law, as I understand it, English law, you can't just move into an area and take it over; you either have to conquer the First Nations in a war or sign a treaty. And we did neither. We just moved in and settled in B.C. And we have to negotiate the treaties. And I'm all for it, of course.' Hicks said the word was taken out of context and that he is 'devastated' by how it was received. He said he supports treaty negotiation.

Yes. Abbotsford News reported on 16 October that Hicks remains on the BC Conservative slate for Juan de Fuca-Malahat. The Conservative Party did not issue a statement in the article, and the article did not report any action by the party regarding his candidacy.

NDP candidate Dana Lajeunesse told Abbotsford News: 'Mike Hicks's attempts to explain away his comments miss the point. The word conquered carries a long and painful history, and regardless of the point he was trying to make, there is no place for that language today.' BC Green Leader Emily Lowan, who is running in a different riding, told the paper: 'This isn't one bad moment. It's a pattern.' Lowan called for the Conservative Party to remove Hicks from the slate.

Juan de Fuca-Malahat is a provincial riding on southern Vancouver Island, in the area around the west coast of the Saanich Peninsula and beyond. Mike Hicks is the Conservative candidate there for the 24 October 2026 provincial election. Dana Lajeunesse is the NDP candidate in the same riding. Candidate pages are at /bc/provincial-2026/candidates/mike-hicks and /bc/provincial-2026/candidates/dana-lajeunesse.

Abbotsford News did not report a statement from the BC Conservative Party about Hicks. The article did not say whether the party was asked for comment or declined. Hicks remains on the party's slate as of the article's publication on 16 October 2026.

Voting day for the BC provincial election is 24 October 2026. Advance voting runs from 16 to 21 October. Voters can find advance voting locations and other details through Elections BC. The news index for this election is at /bc/provincial-2026/news.

This article reports what Hicks said about English law. Hicks described his understanding that English law requires either conquest or treaty before land can be taken. Legal scholars and courts have addressed Indigenous land title through many different frameworks. The Supreme Court of Canada's decisions on Aboriginal title, including Delgamuukw and Tsilhqot'in, set out the law as it applies in Canada and BC. This article does not take a position on the legal history.