B.C. candidate's campaign signs vandalized with anti-trans slurs

Tessa Vikander · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 15, 2025 10:39 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

At slightest 7 run signs for a candidate successful B.C.'s Chilliwack-Hope riding were vandalized implicit the weekend. 

Images shared by NDP campaigner Teri Westerby, who is simply a transgender man, show that 1 motion was burned and respective others were covered with a assortment of transphobic, homophobic and racist slurs written successful acheronian spray paint. 

Westerby said helium believes the attacks were meant to marque queer and racialized radical consciousness acrophobic and unwelcome.

"Those are the painful, lingering types of slurs that we've heard for a agelong clip and that's however I knew they were meant to scare each of america and we conscionable weren't going to fto that happen, not astatine all," helium said. "We aren't frightened here."

Westerby said helium woke up Sunday greeting to a flurry of substance messages from assemblage members alerting him that his signs had been defaced. His squad removed the vandalized signs arsenic rapidly arsenic possible to forestall others from being negatively affected by them.

However, helium decided to stock images of the damaged signs online and took attraction to station them successful a mode that gives the spectator a informing earlier seeing the slurs.

"I'm gladsome that radical got a accidental to spot what queer radical similar maine look truthful that they recognize wherefore we're warring and what we request to bash ... we tin marque past and enactment a trans idiosyncratic successful the spot astatine Ottawa and archer not lone Canada, but the full world, that this is the mode we're moving."

Westerby says helium has received an outpouring of support, and those words – not the slurs connected the motion – are what helium volition remember. 

"[People] were highly upset seeing this hap to me," helium said.

"People were sending maine messages of anticipation … saying, 'This is not OK. We don't basal for this, we're truthful sorry. You don't merit this.'"

Westerby says replacing the ample signs has outgo an other $1,500.

He was elected to the Chilliwack School District's committee of trustees successful 2022. Some of his signs during that run were besides vandalized, but it was connected a smaller scale, helium said.

Westerby said the RCMP reached retired to him and told him the incidental could beryllium investigated arsenic a hatred crime.

CBC News contacted RCMP's Upper Fraser Valley Regional Detachment for comment but did not perceive back.

Hayley Tarrant, assemblage outreach co-ordinator for the Chilliwack Pride Society, said it has been "quite devastating" to spot the damaged signs.

"This is perfectly a hatred crime, the instrumentality should surely analyse this … it's not conscionable an enactment of vandalism," she said.

Tarrant hopes Westerby will gully inspiration from the messages of enactment helium has received.

"We request radical similar you [Teri]. We request radical who attraction astir our assemblage and are consenting to basal up and instrumentality the reins and combat for what our assemblage believes in," she said.