\u201cAs part of my t\u2019shuvah [repentance], the premier asked that I make a series of calls to Muslim community leaders,\u201d she shares. \u201cI began to think: What if I could engage with these groups and bring the Jewish community and the Arab and Muslim communities together in some way? These two heartbroken communities, both fearful for their families overseas and feeling powerless to effect change, could find commonality in that shared experience, at the very least. Action is always an antidote to hopelessness and helplessness. I could do this as part of my role as an MLA and the government could take credit for doing something meaningful that makes a positive difference for both these aching communities. For me, this would be a profound form of redemption, of t\u2019shuvah, and also of tikkun olam [repair of the world].\u201d<\/p>\n
But this ray of light was soon extinguished, the idea being deemed \u201ctoo political.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew in that moment that this was no longer my place, no longer my government, no longer my political party,\u201d writes Robinson. \u201cA place and a party where I belonged would recognize the opportunity for someone who was seen to have transgressed to do some good. My place, my party, would recognize the value of bringing people together. A place where I belonged would not be afraid to try something unique and potentially powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson quit the NDP and finished her term as an MLA as an independent. She was going to retire anyway, but this was not how she wanted her political career to end.<\/p>\n
And it was quite a career. With a master\u2019s degree in counseling psychology, Robinson spent most of her working life as a family counselor and in senior roles in various social service agencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never planned to enter politics,\u201d she writes. \u201cThe first real engagement I had was speaking to Coquitlam City Council, my hands shaking, in support of an emergency cold weather refuge for homeless people proposed by a church in my neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat saddens me right now is that people are losing faith in government,\u201d writes Robinson. \u201cThat is especially distressing because if anything should have renewed people\u2019s faith in government, it was the collective response to the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n When Horgan stepped down as premier in 2022 because of the toll his cancer treatments were taking on him, Robinson began to more seriously reflect on her own future. She had been in public service for so long, she wanted to spend more time with her family. In Truth Be Told<\/i>, we learn more of her own fight against cancer \u2013 a fight that started in 2006, a fight she seems to have won, finding out on Oct. 6, 2023, that her cancer had disappeared. The celebration was short-lived. That evening, news started coming in of Hamas\u2019s terror attacks on Israel.<\/p>\n Robinson\u2019s ambivalence about running for reelection was one of the reasons she didn\u2019t pursue the party leadership vacancy Horgan\u2019s departure opened. Other candidates bowed out, and Eby was anointed the new leader of the BC NDP and became premier in November 2022.<\/p>\n Robinson calls herself an \u201ceternal optimist,\u201d and that attitude has served her well. Despite being effectively demoted by Eby after he became premier, Robinson threw herself into the position of post-secondary education and future skills minister. It is interesting to read about some of the issues in that sector, and of the other portfolios Robinson held, as well as get some insider knowledge of how politics works and about the personalities of the people who represent us.<\/p>\n The crux of Truth Be Told<\/i> is Robinson\u2019s \u201cfour fateful words,\u201d the reactions to them, and what was said and done \u2013 or, more importantly, what was not said and what was not done. Many of her colleagues were \u201cquiet allies,\u201d not willing to speak out.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are lessons from my experience that transcend my personal story,\u201d she writes. \u201cThere are lessons for our democracy about the necessity to stand up to coercion from interest groups and harassment from mobs. There are lessons for leaders about how to act (and how not to act) when presented with choices between what is easy but wrong and difficult but right. There are lessons about speaking up rather than remaining silent.\u201d<\/p>\n Truth Be Told <\/i>is about a person doing what they passionately believe in, a person living their values \u2013 some of which were instilled at Camp Miriam, where Robinson was a counselor in her youth \u2013 and trying to make what they feel are positive contributions to the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Given what happened to her, Robinson could be forgiven for giving up and going quietly into obscure retirement. But that\u2019s not who she is. She asks Canadians to have the courage to speak up, while recognizing that we should not \u201ckid ourselves that a millennia-old problem will be resolved in a day.\u201d She ends her book with calls to action, suggestions of what we each can do to counter antisemitism, as Jews (for example, don\u2019t hide, \u201cengage respectfully or not at all\u201d and don\u2019t give up) and non-Jews (speak up and engage with Jews, among other things), and as a society (for instance, protect students and nurture real inclusion). She includes some resources for readers wanting to explore various topics more.<\/p>\n In the \u201cFinal Reflections\u201d chapter, Robinson writes, \u201cWe will never be perfect. The world will never be faultless. But repairing the world must always be our guiding star. Our reach must always exceed our grasp.\u201d<\/p>\n Profits from the sale of Truth Be Told<\/i> will be donated to the Parents Circle-Families Forum (theparentscircle.org\/en<\/a>) and Upstanders Canada (upstanderscanada.com<\/a>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"image](\"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/jan-17-book-fest.17.JBF-Robinson-TRUTH-BE-TOLD-Bookcover.jpg\")
<\/a>One of the councilors suggested she run for council, and she did. She was elected to Coquitlam City Council in 2008 and reelected in 2011. Truth Be Told<\/i> gives readers a glimpse of what that experience was like, what Robinson accomplished as a councilor, and more. We find out how and why she made the leap to provincial politics in 2013 \u2013 a decision in which the late John Horgan played a pivotal role. The memoir is dedicated to Horgan, for whom Robinson had great respect and a close relationship. As premier, Horgan was the one who appointed Robinson minister of finance after the 2020 election that gave the NDP a majority government. She held that position through COVID, the government managing to file budget surpluses despite the challenges the pandemic brought.<\/p>\n