Image Credit: Contributed / Bill Sundhu

By James Peters

Election 2021

Campaign sign vandalism rampant in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo

Aug 31, 2021 | 3:03 PM

KAMLOOPS — A local candidate in the upcoming federal election says acts of vandalism against his campaign signs represent an attack on people of colour.

Bill Sundhu, the NDP candidate in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, says 15 large signs depicting either himself or party leader Jagmeet Singh have been “completely destroyed or defaced with obscene graffiti” during this campaign so far.

Sundhu says in some cases, his signs have been destroyed while those of other candidates at the same locations have been left unscathed.

He adds, “the acts of a few are making racialized Kamloopsians feel like unwanted outsiders.”

“This targeted hate crime on Bill Sundhu personally makes me feel unsafe and vulnerable in the community,” Amit Goel, a local realtor, is quoted in the NDP news release. “Several times in the past three years, my realty signs have been ‘punched-broken’, defaced and removed — which I feel was targeted against my skin-tone.”

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In videos posted to Facebook Monday (Aug. 31), Green candidate Iain Currie and volunteers are shown repairing signs — belonging to both Sundhu and himself — that had been vandalized at different locations in Kamloops.

Currie noted volunteers for Conservative candidate Frank Caputo’s campaign also repaired Currie’s signs that had been damaged. Currie noted that he has seen one of Caputo’s signs vandalized as well.

“The dirty little secret — that shouldn’t be a dirty little secret — is that the actual candidates like each other and realize what an effort this is. This is completely voluntary,” said Currie.

Caputo thanked both Currie’s team and his own sign volunteers on Twitter Monday, saying they replaced signs belonging to his campaign and those of other candidates.