BC Conservative South Surrey MLA Brent Chapman says he’ll be taking a step back from his critic portfolio after a diagnosis of throat cancer.
Chapman told Global News he’d initially thought the lump in his throat was an infection, but tests subsequently determined it was cancerous.
“When the first diagnosis came out, that was really bad, I wasn’t even processing it,” he said. ” And they said it was a later stage and it was further on. It wasn’t good, but I just kind of had faith that this was going to be resolved.”
He said doctors told him the lump, now about the size of a lime, is hopefully treatable without surgery; he’ll be starting with radiation this summer, followed by chemotherapy.
With the BC NDP holding a single-seat majority in the legislature, any absence or illness by an MLA could have electoral impacts.
Chapman says that while he is stepping back as Opposition critic for transit and ICBC, he won’t be stepping down as an MLA.
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He said he’s hopeful that his treatment will have progressed to a point by the fall sitting of the legislature that he’ll be able to cast virtual votes.
In the meantime, he said he’s leaning on the support of his party, his wife and his children.
“My daughter, who’s my inspiration, my daughter Hannah, had three cancers, and she got through them, breast cancer and ovarian and uterine cancer,” he said.
“She’s been with me sort of all the way. As she says, she looked at my biopsy, and she said, ‘Dad, you got this.’”
Chapman last made headlines during the 2024 provincial election, when he was forced to apologize over resurfaced social media posts.
One post from 2017 appeared to cast doubt on whether mass shootings in Quebec and the U.S. had actually happened, while another from 2015 described Palestinians as “little inbred walking talking breathing time bombs.”
Global News asked Chapman on Tuesday if his cancer diagnosis had given him a new perspective on the hurt those comments caused.
“I haven’t really given it that much thought, to be honest with you. I’m a pretty mindful person at the best of times, to go back nine years ago and start saying, ‘Well, what do you think about that?’ I don’t know, should I go back to high school?” he responded.
“I kind of did my time, you know, I paid my penance on that, and no it’s it’s not something, it doesn’t it doesn’t haunt me at all, and I think a lot of it (was) taken out of context.”
He added that he had apologized multiple times for the comments.
Chapman said he’s been told his radiation therapy will be about seven weeks, followed by several more to recuperate, but added he’s optimistic he’ll be back on his feet soon.
He added he’s taken inspiration from a political opponent, NDP MLA Grace Lore, who stepped back from her own cabinet portfolio to focus on a battle with cancer and who has been voting virtually.
“She’s been a fighter for her side, and I haven’t seen her miss a vote yet,” he said. “So I have a lot of admiration for what she’s going through.”
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