British Columbia minister misidentified as haka performer

"Let's check in on BC's new Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs Christine Boyle," says the caption of an October 25, 2025 X video.

The clip shows a woman in what appears to be traditional dress performing a haka, a ceremonial war dance for New Zealand's Indigenous Maori people. Similar posts on X and Facebook also claimed the woman was Boyle.

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Screenshot of an X post taken November 3, 2025

The posts appeared to reference the minister's comments on drug addiction treatment, using insulting language to imply she is unfit for office. Boyle is a member of the ruling left-wing British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP), which is facing mounting pressure to roll back its drug-decriminalization strategy.

Previously the province's Indigenous relations minister, Boyle was appointed as housing and municipal affairs minister in July 2025 (archived here).

She is not, however, the woman in the clip.

"Christine Boyle does not know the person in this video and is not affiliated with her in any way," said Chelsea Williams, research and communications officer for the BC NDP, in an October 30 email to AFP.

A reverse image search revealed the clip was originally posted by Maori content creator Georgia Awatea Jones on November 14, 2024 (archived here).

Jones tagged New Zealand parliamentarian Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke in her caption, an apparent tribute to the haka the politician performed during a November 2024 parliamentary session in protest of proposed legislation that would have redefined Maori treaty rights. The bill was defeated in April 2025.

AFP reached out to Jones for comment, but no response was forthcoming. The creator posted a reaction to a Canadian Press fact-check of the claims on her social media accounts, saying: "Being incorrectly identified as a Canadian politician was not on my 2025 bingo card" (archived here).

Read more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.