While working, bylaw officers are used to some hostility from the public.
However, for one West Kelowna, B.C., bylaw officer, an incident this past Monday left her upset.
“We are used to dealing with angry people, who are not happy to see us,” said the bylaw officer, whose name Global News is not revealing.
“But it became more personal when he said ‘Why don’t you leave Canada?'”
The ordeal began Monday morning when the bylaw officer was following up on parking violation warnings from the week before.
As she was writing up tickets, one vehicle owner came by, and, according to the officer, became irate.
“I left the ticket on the car. I took pictures, he became more angry, swearing and cursing me,” she said.
The shouting and foul language then turned into a discriminatory verbal attack.
“I have an accent and I don’t look local, I guess,” she told Global News.
“At that time, I also had my name on the jacket. He assumed I’m Mexican. He actually called me Mexican and said to go back to Mexico.”
The bylaw officer is originally from Romania and has lived in Canada for 17 years.
“I came here to build a better community and to build a better future,” she said.
“So being called names and being told to go back to my country, it’s not something that I took with pleasure. It actually hurt.”
The officer managed to catch some of the tirade on camera.
In it, the man involved is seen and heard saying “Why don’t you leave Canada? Go back to wherever the f**k you came from …. trash bag.”
“It hit me because it happened in the past. And because of this, I realized it’s a trend out there and it should be stopped,” she said. “This is unacceptable.”
Her employer, the City of West Kelowna, agreed and condemned the disturbing incident.
“Extreme disappointment,” said City of West Kelowna manager Paul Gipps when asked what his first reaction was regarding the incident.
“Nobody should have to put up with that. It’s not the right way to respond. This is West Kelowna. We’re a small community. Everybody belongs.”
The incident was reported to RCMP.
“We take this extremely seriously and that’s why we came to the RCMP right away, Gipps said. “To let this go is not an option.”
Police have since followed up with the man involved.
Gipps said police told him that the man was very remorseful for his actions and offered to write a letter of apology.
“We’ll accept that,” Gipps said. “We will expect the apology because I think that’s the right thing to do.”
As will the bylaw officer, who said she will accept the apology once it’s issued.
“This is a huge step I think to say I’m sorry,” she said.
“The only wish is these things would stop and instead of going against each other, why not work together for a better community.”