All sides condemn racist’s rant outside clinic
Video showing a protester’s blatant racism against a Sikh security guard outside a Kelowna immunization clinic is drawing widespread condemnation — including from the premier.
Meanwhile, Kelowna RCMP announced Thursday they’re considering potential hate speech charges.
First posted by InfoNews, the video shot on July 13 outside of Trinity Baptist Church shows a man identified as vocal anti-masker and anti-vaxxer Bruce Orydzuk on a tirade against a guard who’s wearing a turban.
“Move back to your country,” says Orydzuk. “You’re disgusting. Go back to India. We don’t want you here.”
Again and again, he repeats: “You’re not a Canadian. You’re not a Canadian. You are not a Canadian.”
The guard remains composed and firm as he holds his ground trying to keep the protesters away from the church where people are receiving their COVID-19 vaccine.
Orydzuk holds a sign that reads, “You are about to take part in a medical experiment with uninformed consequences, do you have informed consent on injury and death numbers?”
B.C. Premier John Horgan shared his outrage on Twitter.
“This is vile, racist behaviour. If this is how you treat people, you are the problem,” wrote Horgan. “Racism is a scourge and we must stand together against it to build a better province.”
Kelowna Coun. Mohini Singh shared the video on Facebook, calling the incident “horrible horrible horrible.”
“This is not what Kelowna stands for or will accept,” she said.
Kelowna police say they did respond to a complaint at the clinic on the day the video was recorded.
“The original complaint was that protesters were impeding access to the clinic,” said Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Jocelyn Noseworthy in a statement. “Officers attended, spoke with staff, and dealt with the protesters. No arrests were made at that time.”
With the video emerging, however, police said they’re now conducting a full investigation.
“We are now investigating this incident through the lens of the willful promotion of hatred under Section 319 of the Criminal Code,” said Noseworthy. “Racism has no place in our community, and I want to reassure the public that this matter is being given the full attention of our General Investigative Support Team in consultation with the Provincial Hate Crimes Unit.”
Witnesses are asked to call Kelowna RCMP at 250-762-3300.