British Columbia Premier John Horgan scrubbed a tweet he sent out last week calling an incident outside a Surrey mosque an act of “hate and racism.”The incident he referred to happened shortly before 11 p.m. on April 27, when Surrey RCMP received a call that water had been thrown from a moving vehicle at three pedestrians from the Muslim community who had just left the Jamia Masjid Mosque in Surrey, BC.Minutes later, police received another call the same vehicle had left the roadway, nearly striking one of the pedestrians.RCMP sent out a press release the following day, on April 28, calling the incident “very disturbing,” albeit maintaining that the suspect’s motives were yet to be known.Horgan, among various political figures in BC, promptly took to social media suggesting the incident was racially motivated, despite a lack of information regarding the suspects.“I stand with those targeted and the Muslim community,” reads the since deleted tweet.“We must condemn acts of hate and racism wherever we see them.”.Horgan’s tweet was in response to his party’s parliamentary secretary for anti-racism initiatives, Rachna Singh.“We must stand together with Muslims against anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia,” Singh posted on Twitter.However, the police investigation found the incident was not a racially-motivated hate crime, as all occupants of the suspect’s vehicle were teenagers who are part of the Muslim community.“The RCMP recognizes that any incidents such as this one that are initially believed to be a hate crime are traumatizing to our community,” said assistant commissioner Brian Edwards, officer-in-charge, Surrey RCMP.“However, once it was discovered that the nature of the incident was not hate-motivated, it was important for us to update the public.”The conclusion drawn by Horgan and members of his party that the incident was driven by racism was based on the sole fact those targeted are members of the Muslim community, as no further evidence was present.Reid Small is a BC-based reporter for the Western Standardrsmall@westernstandard.newsTwitter: @reidsmall
British Columbia Premier John Horgan scrubbed a tweet he sent out last week calling an incident outside a Surrey mosque an act of “hate and racism.”The incident he referred to happened shortly before 11 p.m. on April 27, when Surrey RCMP received a call that water had been thrown from a moving vehicle at three pedestrians from the Muslim community who had just left the Jamia Masjid Mosque in Surrey, BC.Minutes later, police received another call the same vehicle had left the roadway, nearly striking one of the pedestrians.RCMP sent out a press release the following day, on April 28, calling the incident “very disturbing,” albeit maintaining that the suspect’s motives were yet to be known.Horgan, among various political figures in BC, promptly took to social media suggesting the incident was racially motivated, despite a lack of information regarding the suspects.“I stand with those targeted and the Muslim community,” reads the since deleted tweet.“We must condemn acts of hate and racism wherever we see them.”.Horgan’s tweet was in response to his party’s parliamentary secretary for anti-racism initiatives, Rachna Singh.“We must stand together with Muslims against anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia,” Singh posted on Twitter.However, the police investigation found the incident was not a racially-motivated hate crime, as all occupants of the suspect’s vehicle were teenagers who are part of the Muslim community.“The RCMP recognizes that any incidents such as this one that are initially believed to be a hate crime are traumatizing to our community,” said assistant commissioner Brian Edwards, officer-in-charge, Surrey RCMP.“However, once it was discovered that the nature of the incident was not hate-motivated, it was important for us to update the public.”The conclusion drawn by Horgan and members of his party that the incident was driven by racism was based on the sole fact those targeted are members of the Muslim community, as no further evidence was present.Reid Small is a BC-based reporter for the Western Standardrsmall@westernstandard.newsTwitter: @reidsmall
