Controversial election image sparks court battle in Richmond

Controversial election image sparks court battle in Richmond

Author of graphic responds to city council's motion to refer matter to B.C. Human Rights Tribunal

A real estate agent has filed a court petition against the City of Richmond after councillors condemned an allegedly discriminatory election graphic he posted online.

The social media post on WeChat depicts a man in a turban with an Indian flag background and displays the numbers 54 per cent and seven per cent, referring to Richmond's Chinese and South Asian communities, respectively, and their percentage of the city's population.

In addition to the image, an article was also attached to the post.

A translation of the header and subtitle provided to CBC News by Jason Liu, the author of the post, reads: "Richmond is over 54 per cent Chinese Canadian. So why is the Indo-Canadian candidate the frontrunner for mayor? Liu Yi's Commentary: October 17 — every vote decides it."

Richmond mayoral candidate Kash Heed is of South Asian descent, and Liu told CBC News that he used a simplified Chinese term to refer to Heed in the post.

Richmond city council is seen at one its meetings this summer. Coun. Bill McNulty, centre, brought forth a motion to refer Liu's graphic to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. (Steven Chua/CBC)

In July, Coun. Bill McNulty brought forth a motion to demand an apology from the graphic's author and for the case to be forwarded to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal.

At the time, McNulty called it "an absolute insult to a certain segment of our community," while Coun. Laura Gillanders panned it as "racist."

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Now, Liu is firing back with a petition in the B.C. Supreme Court.

In a filing made last week, Liu asked the court to declare actions from the city stemming from the council motion as unreasonable.

The petition also alleges the municipality acted without jurisdiction in this case.

Liu's petition in B.C. Supreme Court says that the City of Richmond acted without jurisdiction in the case. (Peter Scobie/CBC)

Liu declined an interview, but answered questions via email.

"I am not asking a judge to decide whether my article is good or bad," Liu wrote to CBC News.

"I am asking a judge to look at whether a city can name a person in public and send him to a human rights body without telling him first and without letting him answer. Today it is me. Tomorrow it could be anyone."

The council motion in July did not name Liu, but it referred to newspaper articles that reported on him and the graphic.

Liu told CBC News he apologized and took down the graphic without being asked.

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He said the flag and turban in the picture were unintentionally added by an AI image generator.

Liu also said some nuances of the graphic's headline and subtitle were lost as a result of software translations of the original post, which was written in simplified Chinese.

But even with a translation he deemed accurate, Liu acknowledged there were issues with the message.

"That headline still puts ethnicity next to a poll result," he wrote. "That is on me. If I were writing it today I would use the turnout numbers and leave the ethnic comparison out. The numbers make the point on their own."

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University of British Columbia law professor Margot Young said an author's intentions don't matter when deciding whether speech is considered discriminatory.

"You look to the effect on the targeted group that the imagery or the expression has," she said.

UBC law professor Margot Young says she doesn't think this case reaches the bar for discriminatory speech. (Steven Chua/CBC)

Young said it's not a bad thing for a city council to flag something truly discriminatory to the Human Rights Tribunal.

But the question, she says, is whether this case meets that bar.

"I think this doesn't amount to discriminatory speech — that it may fall below the threshold for that," said Young.

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She said in previous cases where there's been a finding of discriminatory speech, the portrayal of targeted groups has been much more negative.

Liu's petition states he is not seeking damages but is asking for "supervisory public-law relief."

None of the allegations have been proven in court. The City of Richmond declined to comment.