North Vancouver RCMP is investigating after racist graffiti was written on several election signs belonging to a People’s Party of Canada candidate.
Sgt. Peter DeVries said police were notified about the vandalism on candidate Azmairnin Jadavji’s signs around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, near Mahon Avenue and West Keith Road, but it is unclear when the graffiti occurred.
“Really racially aggressive language,” said DeVries.
“It’s definitely disturbing, the kind of thing that we would really like to know who was responsible.“
Messages scrawled on the signs read “go home Arab” and “sand n*****.” The vandal also smashed a pole through the candidate’s face in one of the signs.
“I was shocked and disappointed that in this age and time, someone will make such derogatory and irresponsible comments, on the edge of committing a hate crime,” said Jadavji in a statement.
“I am a proud Canadian and a strong voice on issues important to Canadians. I want to contribute and represent the good people of North Vancouver in our Parliament to represent the important issues to Canadians and help find the practical solutions to issues such as environment, transportation, economy, healthcare among others.”
DeVries said police canvassed the area, but weren’t able to turn up any witnesses or security video.
He said the damage appeared to be an isolated incident, and that there has not been an uptick in election sign vandalism, racist or otherwise, in North Vancouver during the campaign.
All the same, he said police were taking the incident seriously.
“We always keep our eye out for that kind of thing this time of year,” he said.
“It’s really important that people respect our democratic election process and don’t mess around with other people’s signs.“
The vandalism comes the same day as a number of Vancouver Kingsway NDP candidate Don Davies’ signs were apparently torn down.
Davies took to Twitter to call the vandalism “totally unacceptable.”
“Our sign crews are volunteers who work hard to help voters express their support,” wrote Davies. “We respect all signs of all parties. Very disappointed in whoever is responsible.”
Davies’ Liberal challenger Tamara Taggart also condemned the vandalism.
“Unacceptable,” she wrote. “Both my opponent and I have experienced this, and it is not okay.”