Hate charges loom after racist tirade caught on video outside Kelowna vaccine clinic

Investigators will recommend hate-related charges against a man caught on video lashing out against a security guard at a vaccine clinic last summer, Kelowna’s top Mountie says.

Insp. Kara Triance, officer in charge, called the incident “deplorable” at a news availability on Monday at the local detachment.

“Statements have been obtained in that case, and that case is being looked at for the threshold of a hate crime,” Triance said. “That threshold is extremely high.”

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The video emerged of a protester yelling racially motivated accusations at a security guard who had asked him to leave the Trinity Church vaccine clinic on Springfield Road on July 13.

He tells the guard, “Shut up. Go back to India. You’re not Canadian, you’re disgusting.”

The security guard was Anmol Singh, a 23-year-old South Asian immigrant, who has lived in Kelowna for four years.

“I felt really bad, like I felt it was a hate crime,” Singh told Global News.

“I talked to the police too, because I didn’t feel good at all and how he said it in front of a lot of people — just felt really bad. When I went home after, I couldn’t sleep.”

Singh said he hasn’t experienced much racism in Canada, but this incident was traumatic.

“I only started (this job) two months ago, so it’s totally a new thing to me,” he said.

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“I just feel really upset. I feel like I’m not being welcomed into this country.”

He said he wants to be a police officer, which is why he became a security guard.

“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,” Kelowna RCMP said at the time.

When asked for an update on the investigation, Triance said she anticipates officers will put forward charges to the BC Prosecution Service.

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“What we’re doing here is making sure we have all of the evidence we can gather in this and putting forth the best case possible,” she said.

“This is not a case that our police officers would investigate daily, and so it’s one that has required significant collaboration with the BC Prosecution Service, and a little bit more time to ensure we’re putting the right package forward.”

– With files from Doyle Potenteau and Darrian Matassa-Fung