A B.C. group called Keep the RCMP in Surrey says it is filing a formal complaint with the National NewsMedia Council against the Surrey-based Indo-Canadian VOICE newspaper for an opinion piece it published June 14, 2022 referring to a 鈥渄isgraceful rowdy demonstration鈥� by 鈥渁 group of old white people.鈥�

鈥淎bsolutely we鈥檙e going to make a formal complaint,鈥� said Paul Daynes, a spokesman for KTRIS. 鈥淲hat it does is it refers in a derogatory way to an identifiable group within our community which we think is totally inappropriate and wrong and if it was applied to any other community group they would have equal grounds for feeling equally outraged.鈥�

The article appeared under the headline, 鈥淢E THINKS! CBC report on McCallum鈥檚 feet not being visible on video footage is very interesting.鈥�

The NNC is a media watchdog based in Toronto, comprised of 15 directors and was established in 2015 to 鈥減romote ethical practices within the news media industry.鈥� It is an amalgamation of former press councils in B.C., Atlantic Canada, Manitoba, and Ontario.

The sentence in the 痴翱滨颁贰鈥檚 piece the campaign is particularly concerned about reads: 鈥淭he disgraceful rowdy demonstration in Surrey City Council recently by a group of old white people supporting the RCMP vividly shows how low this group can stoop and just how desperate they are.鈥�

Rattan Mall, editor of the VOICE, said he wrote the opinion piece.

鈥淚鈥檓 just mentioning facts, that鈥檚 what the video showed. If they were brown people I would have written brown people. I don鈥檛 hesitate to write whatever it is. I mean when South Asians commit crimes I鈥檓 the first one to put up, 鈥楽outh Asian caught,鈥欌�� Mall said.

鈥淚 have no qualms about identifying them as South Asian or Vietnamese or white or whatever,鈥� he added. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 brown people I would have written that. I don鈥檛 hesitate to lash out at South Asians when they kind of misbehave or act like stupid guys.鈥�

鈥淚 mean, if they鈥檙e white, they鈥檙e white, if they鈥檙e brown they鈥檙e brown.鈥�

tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com
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