A court petition has been filed by a real estate agent against the City of Richmond following the condemnation by councillors of an allegedly discriminatory election graphic posted online. The contentious social media post on WeChat features an image of a man in a turban with an Indian flag backdrop, accompanied by the numbers 54 per cent and seven per cent, representing Richmond’s Chinese and South Asian communities’ respective proportions of the city’s population. Additionally, the post included an attached article that questioned the frontrunner status of an Indo-Canadian mayoral candidate in a city predominantly Chinese.
The controversy led to a motion by Coun. Bill McNulty in July, demanding an apology from the graphic’s creator and referring the case to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. The motion, which passed unopposed, was described as insulting and racist by council members. In response, the author of the graphic, Jason Liu, has initiated legal action in the B.C. Supreme Court, contesting the city’s actions as unreasonable and alleging lack of jurisdiction in the matter.
Liu emphasized that his aim is not to have a judge pass judgment on the content of his article but rather to question the city’s authority to publicly name and refer someone to a human rights body without due process. He expressed concerns about the potential ramifications for anyone in a similar situation in the future. Although Liu acknowledged the unintentional inclusion of the flag and turban in the image due to an AI error, he admitted to shortcomings in the translation and the overall message conveyed.
Legal experts, including University of British Columbia law professor Margot Young, weighed in on the matter, highlighting the importance of considering the impact on targeted groups when assessing discriminatory speech. Young opined that the case may not meet the threshold for discriminatory speech, suggesting that previous instances of such findings involved more overtly negative portrayals of targeted groups. Liu’s petition seeks supervisory public-law relief without any claims for damages, and the allegations remain unproven in court, with the City of Richmond opting not to comment on the ongoing legal dispute.