White doctor told South Asian man to “crawl back to Surrey”

THANKS to CTV reporter Penny Daflos, the disgusting hypocrisy of Vancouver Coastal Health and UBC authorities has been exposed during a motor vehicle incident in downtown Vancouver involving Jason Faulds, a vascular surgeon at Vancouver General Hospital and a clinical instructor in the University of British Columbia, in which he told a South Asian man to “crawl back to Surrey.”

Faulds was captured on a video that was posted to TikTok telling a man: “It’s no big deal, just get the f**k out of here, you can crawl back to Surrey.”

Daflos found that although the video started circulating on social media early last spring, the incident apparently occurred much earlier because of the way Faulds was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. Vancouver police confirmed they were called to Alberni Street in the 1100 block around 10 p.m. on July 18, 2020. And court records showed Jason Marc Faulds was charged for an incident on that date with impaired driving and having “a blood alcohol concentration that was equal to or exceeded 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.”

He was found guilty of a lesser offence under the B.C. Motor Vehicle Act of driving without due care and attention last April.  CTV found that his conviction came with a fine of $2,000, a victim surcharge fee of $300, as well as a six-month driving prohibition.

This week, Daflos reported that Vancouver Coastal Health President and CEO Vivian Eliopoulos sent a memo to 14,000 VCH employees last week on Friday afternoon addressing the issue of the video and acknowledging she’d known about the incident for some time.

CTV reported that Eliopoulos admitted she didn’t do enough after learning about the incident, apologizing to staff and including a statement of contrition from Faulds.

Eliopoulos wrote: “I have been reflecting on our organizational commitments as it relates to a racist incident that occurred last year and was brought to my attention several months ago. The first step in our learning and healing is acknowledgement and, on behalf of VCH, I share my deepest apologies for the late response.”

She also wrote: “As part of our anti-racism work, we are learning how to have courageous conversations when people speak up and we will do better. I want to also recognize that our response to initial inquiries about the incident were inadequate. These events have opened up deep wounds that continue to hurt South Asian people and we’re very sorry for the pain this has caused.”

Faulds wrote at the end of the memo: “I would like to address my actions from last summer which were recently publicized. I am deeply ashamed of my behaviour and the harm that I caused and fully understand that many are rightly offended. I offer my sincerest apology to the individuals involved, the VCH community, the residents of Surrey and the entire South Asian community.”

CTV reported that Faulds said in his statement: “My comments reflect a lack of sensitivity and arrogance which is inexcusable and inappropriate.” He added: “I would like to assure you that long before this became a public issue, I began working diligently to improve and will continue to work towards that goal.”

What utter nonsense and hypocrisy!

CTV noted that it had made several attempts to contact Faulds for comment on the incident, but he did not respond. And when CTV first approached VCH and UBC on the case, both condemned his actions but wouldn’t say much more citing privacy law. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia would not discuss the matter at all with CTV.

The apologies by Eliopoulos and Faulds are quite obviously anything but sincere – they are FORCED!

Yes, we all make mistakes. However, the fact remains that people usually say those things in their family and/or friends’ circle or have some kind of simmering resentment. When under pressure or after having drinks or drugs, they end up exposing themselves. Obviously, this doctor and his friends and/or colleagues and/or relatives feel the same way about South Asians.

Usually people are not really sorry – they are just AFRAID of losing their jobs or facing hate crime criminal charges or being sued.

Let’s not be naïve about such racism. It’s not going away anytime soon!