VANCOUVER -- The Safe Surrey Coalition, the civic party that controls the most seats on council and is behind the push for a municipal police force, says members of a community group dedicated to keeping the RCMP have crossed the line on social media.
In a news release, the Safe Surrey Coalition highlights what it calls sexist and racist attacks.
The first example is a tweet from the Keep the RCMP in Surrey account that accuses Coun. Laurie Guerra of not preparing her own remarks in a speech before council.
“Mrs. Guerra it’s easy to read a script prepared for you. How about finally showing some independent thought of you (sic) own.” the @keep_bc account tweeted on Nov. 18.
In an interview with CTV News, Guerra said she was reading her own words and said she doesn’t think any of her male colleagues would be called out like she was.
“I mean there’s just no place for that. There’s absolutely no place for that anywhere,” said Guerra. “It’s time that we put our foot down. We’re not going to tolerate this kind of nonsense anymore.”
As for allegations of racist comments, RCMP supporter Ivan Scott declined an interview but did send an email to CTV News.
“I honestly do not know if I should fall down with laughter, or call for immediate professional help for whoever in Doug McCallum’s political party came up with this defamatory delusional garbage!” Scott wrote.
Despite the distractions, the city continues to push ahead with the transition to a municipal force and the first Surrey Chief of Police could be announced as early as Friday at the next Police Board meeting.
