The president of the University of British Columbia is defending his former home of Baltimore after U.S. President Donald Trump slammed the city as a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess."
While Santa Ono was born in Vancouver, he grew up in Baltimore and spent years working in the faculty at Johns Hopkins University before moving back to B.C.
"I am proud to have lived and worked in the 7th district of Baltimore," he wrote on Twitter over the weekend.
Ono did not reference Trump, whose approval rating in the latest Ipsos poll was pegged at 41 per cent, but his message came amid an ongoing series of verbal attacks from the controversial president.
Trump's tirades have been directed at black Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings and his majority-black district in Baltimore, which encompasses more than half of the city.
The president claimed the district is "considered the worst run and most dangerous anywhere in the United States," and a place where "no human being would want to live," which some critics have decried as racist.
In response, Trump alleged Cummings is the racist, without explanation.
Ono's tweet is not the first time the UBC president has repudiated the president of the United States. He spoke out against the illegal travel ban Trump tried to implement via executive order in 2017, raising concerns about the effect it could have on UBC students, faculty and staff travelling in the U.S.
Ono also established a task force with a budget of $250,000 to provide assistance to anyone associated with the university who was impacted by the ban.
With files from The Associated Press
