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Sign for Muslim candidate for mayor defaced with swastika
10-21-2014
A swastika has been spray painted over a campaign sign for Hamilton mayoral candidate Ejaz Butt.
Twitter user Jim Martin alerted CBC News to the sign in the area of Hunter and John Streets on Tuesday morning.
Though Butt wasn’t aware of the racist graffiti, he says he isn’t surprised, considering some of the things he has endured on the campaign trail.
He received a phone call a couple of weeks ago, he says, where the person on the other line said he “didn’t want any foreigners as mayor” before hanging up. There have also been issues going door to door.
“One guy threw a card right in my face and said ‘we don’t like foreigners,’” Butt said.
Butt, 62, is a Muslim from Pakistan but has been living in Canada since 1987. He rose to the rank of major in Pakistan’s army before heading overseas, and tried to become either a police officer or join the Canadian military.
Neither was possible at the time because he wasn’t a Canadian citizen and in 1989, he started driving a taxi to support his family. He is the former president of the Muslim Association of Hamilton and was also the founding president of the Ontario Taxi Workers Union.
He says after almost 30 years living in Hamilton, he “understands” these things happen. “There are people who don’t like you, they might hate you,” he said. “But there is no place in the city for that. This is someone who is ignorant.”
Butt: Complaining to police wouldn't go anywhere
Butt says he has no plans to go to the police with a complaint, as he doesn’t think it would go anywhere. “What can I do? Tell me,” he said.
Police Const. Claus Wagner told CBC Hamilton that police haven’t received any complaints about the sign from anyone. “But we take these types of matters very seriously,” he said. If called about the sign, officers would come and take photos before removing the sign, and then begin an investigation.
“Any time someone feels like we don’t take a complaint seriously is unfortunate,” he said.
Butt, for his part, says he would rather focus on his campaign and the election. The media, he says, spends most of its time focusing on the city’s “big three” candidates – Brad Cark, Brian McHattie and Fred Eisenberger.
The most important thing in Butt’s platform is better management of the city’s budget, he says. He promised a four-year freeze on taxes if elected mayor and says it is a priority to get people employed while encouraging industry growth in the city.
Though there have been some ignorant blights on his campaign because of some incidences of racism, Butt says most people in Hamilton are “very nice.”
“You can’t blame all of society, right?”
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