A Surrey realtor’s bus shelter advertisement in Fleetwood was defaced last Saturday with a message scrawled in black felt pen that read “Kill all muslims they’re killing us.”
Thing is, Manni Gill is Sikh.
His ad is at a bus shelter on 152nd Street, south of 88th Avenue.
“It was wiped off within two hours by a transit supervisor,” Gill told the Now-Leader on Wednesday.
“I didn’t take it too, too serious,” he said. “It could be some kids messing around. I mean I’m not too concerned, because we’re living in a multicultural society. We’re looking after each other and we’re nice to each other and stuff. I don’t really have concerns about it, but it definitely hit me to see why someone would do this.
“It’s not personal, it’s a hate crime though I would say.” Asked Wednesday if he has reported the matter to police, he replied, “No I haven’t but I’m thinking about it.”
Surrey RCMP Corporal Scotty Schumann said whether it was targeted specifically at Gill, ”Who knows? We may never know. But it is upsetting and we’d encourage people to report those incidents to police.
“If an investigation is possible, then certainly at the very least it’s mischief and the other end of the scale, could be a hate crime.”
On June 4 Gill posted a photo of his defaced sign on his Facebook page with the the comment “Wow so much hatred in this world! My sign was messed with some racial comments. Some scumbags out there giving us all a bad name. Hope world comes to peace one day so we can all live fearlessly in the society. Canada is a great country and I am a proud Canadian. Racism should stop!!”
Wow so much hatred in this world! My sign was messed with some racial comments. Some scumbags out there giving us all a...
Posted by Manni Gill on Sunday, June 4, 2017
By Wednesday 72 comments were posted beneath from people registering their disgust.