Talk:Debra Toporowski

This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.

This page is about a politician who is running for office or has recently run for office, is in office and campaigning for re-election, or is involved in some current political conflict or controversy. For that reason, this article is at increased risk of biased editing, talk-page trolling, and simple vandalism.

If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.

Canada: British Columbia / Politics Low‑importance

	Canada portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Canada, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Canada on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CanadaWikipedia:WikiProject CanadaTemplate:WikiProject CanadaCanada-related
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject British Columbia.
	This article is supported by WikiProject Political parties and politicians in Canada.

Biography: Politics and Government

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
	This article is supported by the politics and government work group (assessed as Low-importance).

A fact from Debra Toporowski appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 8 January 2025 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that Debra Toporowski (pictured) served simultaneously on the Cowichan Tribes council, on the North Cowichan council, and as acting mayor, before being elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2025/January. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Debra Toporowski.

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by AirshipJungleman29 talk 19:17, 2 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

Toporowski's portrait

... that Debra Toporowski (pictured) served simultaneously on the Cowichan Tribes council, on the North Cowichan council, and as acting mayor, before being elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia?

Source: "A member of Cowichan Tribes, Toporowski is a two-term elected councillor in the municipality of North Cowichan and a five-time councillor of Cowichan Tribes, the first elected woman to hold positions on two councils at the same time." Barron, Robert (4 November 2024). "Toporowski resigns from her council seat in North Cowichan". Lake Cowichan Gazette. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
"Toporowski was first elected to North Cowichan council in 2018 and again in 2022. She currently serves as acting mayor. She lost her seat on Cowichan Tribes council in 2022, but was elected again in 2024 to a four-year term." Pynn, Larry (May 14, 2024). "Debra Toporowski takes NDP nomination in Cowichan Valley by acclamation". Six Mountains. Retrieved October 20, 2024.

ALT1: ... that before 1985, Debra Toporowski (pictured) was unable to receive Indian status, because under the Indian Act, her mother was forced to relinquish her status because she had married a Chinese Canadian man? Source: "Before 1985, Debra Toporowski (Cowichan) could not be a member of the Cowichan Tribes because her Cowichan mother had married a Chinese Canadian man in Duncan. The Indian Act forced her mother to give up her status as a member of the Cowichan Nation." Claxton, Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱; Fong, Denise; Morrison, Fran; O’Bonsawin, Christine; Omatsu, Maryka; Price, John; Sandhra, Sharanjit Kaur (2021). "Challenging Racist "British Columbia": 150 Years and Counting". CCPA-BC. University of Victoria and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (BC Office). Retrieved 2 December 2024.
ALT2: ... that a local reporter described the vote count for Cowichan Valley as a "back-and-forth battle" taking place between Debra Toporowski (pictured) and the second place Conservative candidate? Source: "The riding's next MLA will be Debra Toporowski, who won a back-and-forth battle with the Conservative's John Koury." Simpson, Sarah (20 October 2024). "B.C. ELECTION: NDP wins tight race in Cowichan Valley riding". Cowichan Valley Citizen. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Upper Chehalis people Template:Did you know nominations/Lower Chehalis people
Comment: Thank you in advance to the reviewer! This is the third in an unofficial series of four on articles regarding the Indigenous MLAs elected during the 2024 BC provincial election. ~~QPQs will be completed within the next few days.~~ Done, per below. ALT1 truthfully is not the most outstanding, probably thousands were disenfranchised because of that exact provision. If someone is familiar with the loss of status due to the Indian Act, one can understand Toporowski's case is not unique. Larry Grant was another individual whose status was unrecognized because of that same provision. However, it can serve as an educational tool for those unfamiliar with those provisions.

5x expanded by Ornithoptera (talk). Number of QPQs required: 2. DYK is currently in unreviewed backlog mode and nominator has 47 past nominations.

Ornithoptera (talk) 07:11, 2 December 2024 (UTC).[reply]

@Ornithoptera: Note that per current QPQ rules, "QPQs will be completed within the next few days" will not suffice: it has to be immediately, and the nomination can be closed if one is not provided promptly. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 11:13, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Well... They're done now, thanks for the heads up. Ornithoptera (talk) 11:44, 2 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

New enough (expanded Nov 28), long enough (7900 B), well-sourced (lots of local newspapers, but they all seem reliable), no copyvio (Earwig flags only simple, short phrases). All hooks verified in sources. ALT1 is definitely the most interesting. — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 06:07, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi @Vigilantcosmicpenguin:! Thank you for the review and apologies in advance for the ping. I completely forgot that I had intended to insert an image to the DYK. Do you mind checking over the image? The BC NDP posts all images under its Flickr under the appropriate image licenses so hopefully it is not a difficult look-over, but I thought it would be best to have you check it over. Ornithoptera (talk) 02:09, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Image is freely licensed (CC BY 2.0 on Flickr), used in article, and looks good at 140px. Approved. — Vigilant Cosmic Penguin 🐧 (talk | contribs) 02:58, 28 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]