Haroon Ghaffar, B.C. NDP candidate for the Surrey South riding, is calling on his B.C. Conservative opponent to withdraw from the election race.
Ghaffar said comments that Brent Chapman made in posts on social media, some almost a decade ago – but also his reposting of a meme on his campaign social media account less than a month ago, plus a recent appearance on a fringe podcast, have raised serious questions of Chapman's suitability for office.
The emergence Wednesday of anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic comments posted by Chapman in 2015 has led to a firestorm of criticism from Muslim groups, including the White Rock Muslim Association and the B.C. Muslim Association, who have both called for his removal from the ballot.
But it has also focused increasing scrutiny on his other online behaviour, which has included equating NDP and federal Liberal health policies with the holocaust and ridiculing Indigenous groups' account of child deaths in residential schools, as well as calling for a boycott of Air Canada because it was bringing Syrian refugees to Canada.
"These kinds of comments are disturbing, not only to Muslims but also all marginalized minorities in B.C.," Ghaffar told Peace Arch News on Friday (Oct. 11).
"This kind of racist thinking and ideology does not belong in politics, and I don't think these kind of people should be elected to office," he added.
"We cannot tolerate it."
Ghaffar said that the apology statement Chapman made Wednesday night, after the anti-Muslim posts surfaced – in which he said that posts made nine years ago don't reflect his thinking today – is not enough.
"For me, it is not acceptable," he said. "It's just a hollow apology."
He said the absence of further reaction from Chapman has also cast doubt on the validity of his apology
"What was it – just words?" he said.
"There is a price for this kind of (behaviour), and that price must be paid."
Ghaffar said he was also dismayed by B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad's acceptance of Chapman's apologies, while resisting removing the candidate from the running.
"(Rustad) said there is no place for racism in his campaign, but then he accepts Brent Chapman's apology.
"He's not standing by his own words, which means his leadership is weak."
Ghaffar also questioned the level of vetting that the B.C. Conservatives are applying to candidates.
"These are the people who are going door to door asking for your vote. How can we trust that what they are on the surface is who they are inside?"
Reports have also surfaced that Chapman recently went on a fringe podcast in which the host described the Indigenous account of what went on in residential schools as "a massive fraud," and Chapman agreed with her, jokingly comparing the deaths with the Jamestown massacre or the crimes inspired by Charles Manson.
Chapman has since taken to X (formerly Twitter) to post that the video clip was "intentionally and entirely taken out of context."
"Under no circumstances did I ever laugh at or deny the suffering of Indigenous peoples," the post reads. "I was scoffing at the Prime Minister trying to gaslight the public on whether we should be proud of Canada."
The meme that Chapman reposted, created by Bruce McGonigal, and attacking "harm reduction strategies," shows a photo of women and children being led from the Warsaw ghetto by Nazi soldiers during the Second World War above a photo of B.C. NDP Premier David Eby with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The text reads, in part, "Nazi scum gave children candy before they entered the gas chamber...NDP and Liberal scum hand out 'safe supply' and encourage youth to visit injection sites."
Chapman's X/Twitter feed has not addressed any of the other comments as of this post.
Peace Arch News reached out to Chapman for comment on Thursday and was told by a campaign coordinator that a further statement would be forthcoming. No such statement has been received as of Friday evening, and Chapman has not responded to requests for comment.
Meanwhile Eby, in a media conference Friday, said he feels that Chapman's comments are in line with what he sees as other racist views being expressed by B.C. Conservative candidates, and also racist social media reactions they have elicited.
"What this does causes a very small group of people to feel emboldened to come out and promote hate in our province, (which) makes our province less safe for everybody," Eby said, criticizing Rustad's continued comments Friday that he has accepted Chapman's apology.
"I think that it's far past time to show leadership on this," he said.
"I think the leadership that he's showing is an endorsement of these views – and I find that reprehensible."
B.C. Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau has also taken Rustad to task, citing Chapman's comments and others made by Vancouver-Quilchena Conservative candidate Dallas Brodie.
"When a candidate makes racist or hateful comments, it's the leader's responsibility to remove that candidate," she posted on X. "This is a failure of John Rustad — a failure he has repeated again and again."
– with files from Wolfgang Depner
