Surrey South B.C. Conservative MLA candidate Brent Chapman is facing a storm of criticism for offensive anti-Palestinian and anti-Islam posts he made on Facebook almost a decade ago.
Although Chapman was quick to issue an apology after his statements were made public by media on Wednesday night, the storm had not abated by Thursday, with B.C. NDP leader David Eby calling Chapman out during a media conference for what he termed "hate speech."
In 2015, Chapman – who is married to Kerry-Lynne Findlay, federal Conservative MP for South Surrey-White Rock – made several Facebook posts attacking Palestinians and those of Islamic faith in general, in one of which he referred to Palestinians as "little inbred walking talking breathing time bombs ... figuratively and quite literally."
Statements also made multiple references to "Muslim inbreeding" and a suggestion that Canadians cannot "live with them, Islam."
In a statement Wednesday, Chapman said: "The language I used and the sentiments I expressed at that time towards Palestinians and members of the Islamic faith were completely unacceptable."
“They do not reflect who I am today or the respect and admiration I hold for the Palestinian and Muslim communities,” he said, adding that he wanted to offer "sincerest apologies to everyone hurt by my past words.”
But Thursday morning, a campaign coordinator for Chapman told Peace Arch News that a new statement would be forthcoming and would be released to media.
"We're not making any other statements to media, while we look at the situation," the representative commented.
In a media conference Thursday morning, B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad said that while he had asked Chapman to apologize for the 2015 posts and has accepted his apology, he was not asking Chapman to withdraw from the campaign.
Rustad noted that the Conservatives' chief of staff is Muslim, and other Muslims are working on the provincial campaign and that Chapman had reached out and apologized to them as well as the rest of the team.
"The Conservative Party of British Columbia will not stand for anti-Palestinian Islamophobia, and we will not stand for hate in this province.," he said.
"There's no question that the statement he made, those comments from 10 years ago, I found offensive, and I know many other people do. People sometimes make mistakes. However, I think what is important is actions. And so we'll see he has already reached out (as a) candidate and to the people on our team and apologized.
"The members of our Muslim community that are within our caucus, or within our candidates, as well as within our team, have accepted that apology."
Eby told reporters that he was not surprised that Rustad had accepted Chapman's apology.
"But guess what? It's not up to John Rustad," he said.
He characterized Chapman's comments as part of an ongoing pattern from past and present Conservative candidates, which he said has included anti-LGBTQ, anti-Indigenous and anti-women statements.
"It has happened now ... about people who are Muslim in our province, and including children, that this individual calls 'little walking time bombs both literally and figuratively.'
"That is hate speech – that is criminal hate speech.
"It is not up to John Rustad, it's up to the Muslim community. It's up to all of us to say that hate is not acceptable in this province."
A statement from the National Council of Canadian Muslims said the group had been "horrified by the posts."
"We consider them to be deeply Islamophobic, disgusting and utterly unacceptable."
The council said, however, that it recognizes that Chapman has apologized both privately and publicly for his statements and has taken steps to widen his understanding of Muslim and Palestinian people "and recognizing the deep harm he has caused by his posts."
"British Columbian Muslims are a people that believe in the power of forgiveness to bring people together and heal wounds," the statement adds.
"We will judge the commitment to the apology on the basis of the actions that Mr. Chapman takes on an ongoing basis, and the commitment of John Rustad's B.C. Conservatives to challenge Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.
"We will also be consulting with local Masajid and community organizations about what the next steps look like on this issue."
– with files from Wolf Depner
