More than a dozen Muslim residents from South Surrey and White Rock gathered on Friday afternoon, April 11, outside the campaign office of the Conservative incumbent to demand answers. They raised concerns about racism and hate speech linked to the incumbent’s family, seeking a public response.
Holding signs that asked questions like, “Does your silence mean you agree with your husband’s racist statements?” and “Why won’t Kerry-Lynne Findlay speak out against hate speech?”, the group called for accountability. However, Findlay was not present at her office during the protest.
Asad Syed, chair of the White Rock Muslim Association, led the demonstration alongside other community members. The protest came after years of disappointment with their parliamentary representative. In November 2023, the group had protested at Findlay’s South Surrey office urging her to call for a Gaza ceasefire — a request they say went unanswered.
“We will remember this time when we cast our votes again,” Syed said then, a warning now realized with Friday’s protest at her campaign office.
The protest was fueled by recent revelations concerning Brent Chapman, Findlay’s spouse and the newly elected MLA for Surrey South. In the lead-up to the provincial election, Chapman faced backlash for past racist and Islamophobic posts on Facebook.
In those posts, Chapman referred to Palestinians with derogatory terms such as “little inbred walking talking breathing time bombs” and made offensive remarks about “Muslim inbreeding.” He also suggested that Canadians “cannot live with them, Islam.”
“Kerry-Lynne was our MP at the time and never publicly opposed his views,” Syed said. “It looks like they share the same opinion.”
In 2023, the Muslim community first sought a meeting with Findlay to discuss these issues, but she declined. This refusal led to their initial protest outside her office. More recently, some community members attended an all-candidates meeting on April 9, organized by seniors’ groups in White Rock, where they hoped to question Findlay directly. She did not attend, citing concerns about bias due to the moderator’s alleged Liberal support.
“Last time we tried to talk to her about Gaza, she avoided us,” Syed said. “She left her office early and wouldn’t meet with us.”
During Friday’s protest, one man holding a sign approached a van filling up with election posters, but the vehicle quickly drove away. The demonstrators received many supportive honks from passing vehicles and were joined by one non-Muslim passerby who expressed full support.
Yet, not everyone was supportive. A man passing by confronted the group, accused them of lying about Chapman’s comments, and urged them not to protest the Conservative party.
“Our members come from all political backgrounds — Conservative, NDP, Liberal, and others,” Syed responded. “This protest is not about party politics. It’s about condemning racism, which is unacceptable.”
Syed stressed there is no place for racism in society. While Chapman apologized publicly to some degree, he has not reached out to the Muslim community directly. “If he was truly sorry, he would have come to our center and apologized face-to-face. But he never did.”
The group clarified their protest is not meant to inflame tensions but to demand clear answers from their elected representative before the April 28 vote.
“We are here to condemn racism against all minorities,” said Yousef, one of the protesters. “It should not be accepted against Muslims, Christians, Jews, or anyone else.”
Efforts to contact Findlay’s office for comment were unsuccessful at the time of publication. The campaign office confirmed Findlay was not present during the protest.
