Chief Constable Jim Chu
Remarks
The Vancouver Police have always treated this abhorrent act on the Komagata Maru monument as a serious matter.
We know the importance of this monument to the community. I was personally honoured to speak at its unveiling.
When this matter was reported to us, we assigned our hate crime investigator to the case.
We identified the suspect and we were trying to further the investigation but we needed the main witness to provide to us a statement.
Thorough the help of Khalsa Diwan Society President Sohan Deo, this witness agreed to cooperate, and yesterday, he came forward for an interview.
Based on the interview results, we confirmed that our only option in the justice system was a bylaw ticket for urinating in public.
Yesterday afternoon, we located the suspect and he agreed to apologize for his actions.
I will read his signed apology:
“I am sorry for what I did that day at the monument. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
When dealing with the suspect, it appeared even more the case that this person was afflicted with a serious mental disorder.
He is an illicit drug user and would fit into the category studied recently in the Downtown Eastside of a severely addicted mentally ill person.
This suspect needs the health system, not the justice system.
We believe that it is not in anyone’s interest to serve this suspect a bylaw ticket. We explained this to several South Asian community leaders last night and they supported this decision.
