KELOWNA — Racist anti-vaccine protestor wasn’t just venting at the COVID-19 immunization clinic in Kelowna but decided to go after a Sikh security guard trying to keep the peace, telling him to back to India.
Bruce Orydzuk of Kelowna, the racist involved, was outside Trinity Church in Kelowna Wednesday, July 13, with about ten other protestors, carrying a sign that said: “You are about to take part in a medical experiment with uninformed consequences, do you have informed consent on injury and death numbers?”
“This is not a vaccine, this is an experimental toxin, it’s gene therapy,” Orydzuk said.
Most of the protesters were peaceful but some caused problems as they were blocking traffic into the vaccination site.
At one point, Orydzuk began yelling at a security guard trying to get the protestors to move along.
“You are not a Canadian, you are disgusting,” he told the guard. “Go back to your country, you’re not a Canadian, beat it, you’re disgusting. You don’t know Canadian laws.”
The security guard told him to stay away from the property.
“Go back to India, we don’t want you here,” Orydzuk yelled.
On Orydzuk’s public Facebook page, he has shared numerous conspiracy theories.
Kelowna city councilor told News 1130 that she is “disgusted and horrified” by the racist tirade directed at the security guard and says she will be meeting with the police superintendent to discuss what action can be taken.
Coun. Mohini Singh is one of many in the city who shared the video to social media, condemning the comments.
“My first response was absolute disgust. I was horrified that this individual would attack a guy who’s just trying to do his job. He’s telling him to go back to India. He’s telling him he is not a Canadian. I think he’s more Canadian than the fellow doing the attacking because there he is working to make sure those who are going in to get a vaccine, are able to get in properly. It was absolutely a disgusting show of anger against the vaccination program,” Singh says.
“This guy has been vocal, front and centre, in the anti-vaccine campaign, and for him to show up at a vaccination centre and start yelling at a security guard is so, so wrong.”
In the video, the man holds a sign saying “You are about to take part in a medical experiment with uninformed consequences, do you have informed consent on injury and death numbers?”
It starts with the guard calmly explaining he is protecting the property and the people who are attending their appointments. When the security guard tells the man to leave someone alone, the protester responds by shouting at him to “Shut up,” reported News 1130.
The guard is Sikh and wears a turban, and the rest of the video shows him explaining his job while having insults hurled at him.
“You are not a Canadian. You are disgusting. Go back to your country. Beat it. You don’t know Canadian laws. Get out of my face, you don’t know anything. We don’t want you here.” The man shouts these racist comments several times.
Singh says she was impressed with the guard’s professionalism and plans to tell him so in person.
“I have to commend him. He had a job to do, he kept his cool and was respectful right throughout this ordeal,” she says.
“I do plan to go down to the centre just to give him a hug. I just got my explanation I drove past him and I waved to him a few days ago. I just plan to go down and offer my support to him tomorrow morning.”
She also plans to have a meeting with RCMP leadership in the city to discuss what can be done in response.
“We have a couple of people who behave like this, and this is not acceptable behaviour in our city. I actually plan to meet with the superintendent of police to see really how this kind of behaviour can be stopped in our city, because this creates social discord, it’s not good for community building, and this is not acceptable,” Singh says.
“This is not Kelowna, this is not who we are — and this should not be allowed to persist.”
According to ImmunizeBC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 vaccinations are safe and effective in protecting against COVID-19.
Reports of death after COVID-19 vaccination are rare with only 6,079 reports of death (0.0018%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine out of the 334 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in the United States from Dec. 14, 2020, through July 12, 2021, according to the CDC.
