[Editor’s note: This story includes descriptions of Islamophobic comments and repeated mention of a misogynistic slur.]
BC Conservative campaign spokesperson Anthony Koch is under fire for past social media posts, with an open letter from the National Council of Canadian Muslims, the World Sikh Organization and other groups calling on leader John Rustad to address Koch’s comments or remove him as spokesperson.
The letter, posted Wednesday, was prompted by Koch’s past posts, including repeatedly calling a female political strategist a “vile c**t,” saying that Muslims from Pakistan are “virulently antisemitic” and telling then-Ontario NDP MPP Sarah Jama to “go back to Somalia.” The posts were shared with The Tyee by the council and were made during the month of October 2023; we have redacted the slur throughout this piece.
Rustad’s chief of staff, Azim Jiwani, confirmed that Koch had made the posts.
The council’s letter to Rustad said Koch “has repeatedly made what we view as misogynistic, divisive, and inflammatory remarks, targeting Muslims, Sikhs, and women of color.”
“Some disturbing examples of his social media activity include (but are not limited to) telling an elected official to go back to her country, suggesting that the ‘Khalistani crew’ do not support Canadian Jews, suggesting that antisemites are most likely to be Pakistani, using derogatory slurs towards women, including calling a Sikh woman an extremely vulgar term, and making other inappropriate suggestions online.”
The National Council of Canadian Muslims says the organization has tried to raise the issue with Rustad and his party several times but has not gotten a response.
Rustad has not responded publicly to the letter.
But Jiwani defended Koch on social media while acknowledging the troubling posts.
“I’m a proud Ismaili Muslim and the first ever Muslim Chief of Staff to any political party leader in B.C. I’ve dealt with Islamophobia in my life — I know what it looks like,” he wrote. “I’ve worked closely with Anthony Koch over the course of the past few months. He is not an Islamophobe and he has no hate in his heart.”
“Immediately after the October 7th attack, Anthony was extremely upset and, yes, made some over-the-top comments as he was grieving,” Jiwani said, referring to the Hamas attack on Israeli residents that killed over 1,100 people and led Israel to launch a punishing air and ground offensive against Gaza which has killed tens of thousands of civilians.
He called the letter from the council “a political hatchet-job from a BC NDP aligned organization.”
What Anthony Koch posted
The comments from Koch that National Council of Canadian Muslims and other groups find offensive were posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
In all the posts Koch was commenting on pro-Palestinian protests happening in response to Israel’s war in Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack.
Sarbjit Kaur is a political communications consultant based in Toronto who has worked for the provincial Liberals in Ontario. She spoke up on X to defend the protests three days after the Hamas attack.
Kaur’s post said that protesters “have a different point of view on the conflict. No one is celebrating rape and murder.”
Koch responded by claiming that people attending the protests had called for the murder of Jews.
He went on to tell Kaur “You’re a vile c**t, and I wish you a lifetime of misery and suffering. May your name and memory be erased.”
He then followed up with a reply saying again Kaur was “a certified vile c**t who I will call a vile c**t any time any place to her face or anyone else’s.”
Kaur and Koch were both contributors to CBC’s Power & Politics show, although Kaur said they never appeared on the program together.
Kaur told The Tyee that Koch later apologized to her and she accepted the apology, “because it seemed like he might have been going through something.”
But as she saw Koch continue to make derogatory comments about entire communities over several months, she started to doubt the sincerity of his apology or that his comments could be excused by being emotional about the Oct. 7 attack or some other stress in his life.
“I’m online a lot and I’ve seen a lot and I’ve experienced a lot,” Kaur said. “But that was among the worst I’ve experienced in online abuse.”
In other posts, Koch made sweeping statements about Pakistani Muslims and Sikhs who support the Khalistani movement being antisemitic.
Kaur said she and others complained to the CBC about a range of social media comments Koch had made, and she was told that Koch would no longer appear on Power & Politics. A CBC spokesperson confirmed to The Tyee that Koch has not been a panelist since October 2023 because his social media posts violated the broadcaster’s code of conduct.
Kaur said she was dismayed to learn Koch had been hired by the BC Conservatives as their campaign spokesperson. Koch previously worked for the federal Conservatives.
“It’s shocking that only a short time after these very public online interactions with myself and others, Anthony Koch was hired to serve as an official spokesman and senior member of the BC Conservative Party,” Kaur told The Tyee. “It’s a slap in the face to women and all the other communities that were subject to his abuse and toxic views.”
Kaur said she was dismayed by the party’s response to the council’s concerns.
“He either meant those words, or he cannot control his words,” she said. “Either way, he has no business being a spokesperson for a major political party.”
Surrey candidate’s posts under fire
The complaint comes as the BC Conservatives are also facing criticism for past social media comments made by Brent Chapman, the party’s candidate for Surrey South.
Jas Johal, a former BC Liberal MLA and current radio host, recently shared several 10-year-old Facebook comments made by Chapman, including one where he said Palestinians were “walking, talking, breathing time bombs… figuratively and quite literally.”
In a response sent to Global News, Chapman apologized for his comments, said they had been made years ago, and said he’s had the chance to travel to Muslim-majority countries since and “build meaningful relationships with members of the Muslim community in Canada.”
In a statement, the National Council of Canadian Muslims said it was “horrified” by the posts.
Chapman had apologized privately and publicly, it said.
“In a series of conversations with Mr. Chapman, we heard an apology detailing the steps he has taken to widen his understanding of Muslim and Palestinian people and recognizing the deep harm he caused by his posts,” it said.
“We will judge the commitment to the apology on the basis of the actions that Mr. Chapman takes on an ongoing basis, and the commitment of John Rustad’s BC Conservatives to challenge Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism.”
Rustad told a Global News reporter that Chapman’s comments don’t reflect the party’s values, but he wouldn’t remove Chapman as a candidate.
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