Man behind racist post on Sajjan apologizes
Member of area Conservatives’ communications team resigns, says he didn’t intend comment about defence minister on Facebook to be racist but sees how it was taken that way
The phone call early Friday afternoon was mysterious and heartfelt. “I’m begging you, don’t publish my name, but let me tell my side of the story,” said the young man who posted a racist remark concerning Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan Tuesday afternoon on the Okanagan Conservatives Facebook page.
“Let me express how deeply sorry I am to the minister, the Liberal party, the Conservative party, the KelownaLake Country Conservative Electoral District Association, the community and my family.”
The man doesn’t want his name disclosed for fear of harassment and for the safety of his family.
The original post contained a photo of Vancouver South Liberal MP Sajjan, a Sikh and an Afghanistan war veteran, with the caption: “This is what happens when you have a cabinet based on affirmative action.”
There was also a link to a story in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper about Sajjan answering questions about a $337,000 taxpayer-funded Canadian Forces flight to Europe in which VIPs aboard were allegedly drunk and abusive to flight attendants.
The Facebook post made national news and the defence minister himself weighed in on Twitter.
“These comments are completely unacceptable,” he wrote.
“Happy to see that some members of the Conservatives have realized that (in reference to the outcry denouncing the Facebook post from both Liberal and Conservative politicians and members). Canadians know diversity is our strength and we will always champion that.”
Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr retweeted Sajjan’s reaction.
“I didn’t intend for it to be racist, but, of course, in 20/20 hindsight I see how people saw it as racist,” said the man, who had access to the Okanagan Conservatives Facebook page as a member of the Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative Electoral District Association’s communication team.
The man has since resigned from the association’s communication team after this statement was issued: “We’ve deleted an earlier post that was clearly inappropriate and that simply does not reflect the views of the party or any of the EDAs (Conservative electoral district associations) in the Okanagan. We apologize to Minister Sajjan and all those we’ve offended.”
“I’m of Indo-Canadian heritage myself and I’m incredibly proud of that,” said the man.
“My (original, racist) comment was a result of my frustration with Sajjan over spending on flights, the episode in Osoyoos and him taking credit for what he shouldn’t have.”
The Osoyoos incident of July 2017 saw Panna Chauhan, the owner of East Indian Meat Shop, confront Sajjan after the defence minister allegedly threw cherry pits out of his car window in front of the store.
The credit comment stems from Sajjan being caught embellishing his involvement in Operation Medusa, a Canadian offensive to remove Taliban fighters from around Kandahar in 2006.
“I used to be a Liberal, and my family contributed to the Liberals,” said the man.
“But I joined the Conservatives because even though the defence minister is a war veteran, he’s doing a terrible job looking after veterans.”
As he resigned from the Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative Electoral District Association, he recommended a new policy for posting to the group’s Facebook page that includes several people reviewing content before it’s posted.
Renee Merrifield Wasylyk and Tracy Gray are vying for the Kelowna-Lake Country Conservative nomination to run in the next federal election.
“That’s not who we are as Conservatives,” said Wasylyk in response to the Facebook post.
“I know the administrator of that page, he’s an Indo-Canadian himself and it was a complete lapse in judgment on his part.”
Gray didn’t know who managed the Facebook page nor who was able to post on it.
“And I certainly do not condone what was said,” she said.
Although the racist posting has been taken off the Okanagan Conservatives Facebook home page, it lives on in the reviews section as people repost the original with comments.
Some of the comments read: “Racist, bigoted and hateful.” “Very racist group of people peddling their disgusting philosophy.” “Backwoods rednecks who only get votes from a near extremist fringe group of fascists.” And, “silence their racist rhetoric.”
As of Friday afternoon, the Okanagan Conservatives Facebook page had 731 followers.