A Saanich family is shaken after receiving a series of escalating racist threats over the past three months.
“The note said ‘your kind is not welcome here’ with a blood drop cross which is affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. So that was a very frightening morning,” said Parmvir, whose last name CHEK News has agreed to withhold to protect the family from further threats.
That letter was found on his car in the middle of the night at his girlfriend’s house in Metchosin back in January. But the harassment didn’t stop there.
As recently as March 31, the racist, threatening letters targeting Parmvir have persisted.
Parmvir received new threatening messages, in similar writing, saying ‘this is your last Valentine here’, the note also said the n-word. Another note was found on the back of the car by Saanich Police.
“This one said ‘I’m watchin you boy’ with a big capital ‘WP’ which we can assume possibly means white power,” said Parmvir, describing the note.
This time though, the letters were left on Parmvir’s car at his family’s home in Saanich, 20 kilometers from the first incident.
“It’s obviously getting very real with now notes being left at very different properties that are very far apart. So someone has clearly gone out of their way to follow me and track me down,” said Parmvir.
Saanich Police have been notified, and are investigating the threats as hate crimes.
“It appears that it is targeted to this one individual in the family, that certainly there seems to be at face value of it a connection and most likely someone they know or have been in contact with,” said Const. Markus Anastasiades with Saanich Police.
As the police investigation continues, the family is now installing security cameras at their homes and cars. And Parmvir tries to make sense of the hateful letters.
“It could be just absolute hatred towards me just because I’m a different ethnicity…Maybe there’s some sort of anger to my relationship because we are in an interracial relationship,” said Parmvir referring to his girlfriend.
Whatever the reasons behind the racist threats, it has shaken Parmvir’s sense of safety on the Island he’s called home his whole life.
“When you’re out driving, you see someone looking at you now, you wonder if it’s them,” said Parmvir. “The trust is definitely gone a little bit.”
Parmvir says he’s choosing to speak up against the blatant racism, saying this hate has no place on Vancouver Island.
“There’s a lot more part of people than their skin tone, you know,” said Parmvir.
Kori Sidaway
