Nova Scotia Liberal removes photo of himself with blackface Christmas character

HALIFAX – A provincial politician in Nova Scotia has deleted a photo of himself sitting on the lap of a blackface Christmas character from his Twitter account.

Liberal Joachim Stroink tweeted the photo of himself and his wife at a Dutch Christmas event Sunday in Halifax.

The picture showed a smiling Stroink sitting on the lap of Zwarte Piet, or “Black Pete,” a Dutch character who has been at the centre of debate in the Netherlands.

A traditional song refers to the character as a “servant” to the elderly St. Nicholas, but in recent years those references have largely been replaced with the idea that he is black from chimney soot as he scrambles down to deliver toys and sweets for children who leave their shoes out overnight.

Stroink issued a statement on his Facebook page today, saying that ignoring the character would be to disavow his Dutch heritage but that he welcomed the discussion over the controversial image.

Liberal Party spokesman Kyley Harris says the image showed an error in judgment and should not have been posted.

Stroink, who was elected for the first time in the provincial election in October, says on his site that he grew up celebrating Zwarte Piet and did not intend to offend anyone.