THE BC United Party said on Friday that Premier David Eby’s failure to establish an anti-racism hotline has raised serious concerns about the NDP’s commitment to addressing hate incidents and supporting racialized communities.

Despite the alarming increase in hate crimes and the urgent recommendations from B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner, the government’s inaction has left communities without the necessary resources to combat racism, it added.

“Victims of hate incidents continue to suffer in silence, while racism goes unchecked,” said Richmond North Centre BC United MLA Teresa Wat, Critic for Multiculturalism, Anti-Racism Initiatives, Arts and Culture. “I find it deeply concerning to witness the inaction of the NDP government and the substantial amount of time that has elapsed since the promise of a hotline was made. Sadly, it appears that this promise may have been nothing more than a political ploy to mislead people.”

The BC United Party said that amid rising anti-Asian hate crimes and the B.C. Human Rights Commissioner’s report, which recommends the creation of a community-led, province-wide centralized reporting mechanism for hate incidents, the lack of progress in establishing the promised anti-racism hotline by the BC government is unacceptable. Despite initial enthusiasm and commitment from the NDP years ago, there has since been no progress and little to no public information on the project’s current status. The BC United Caucus has been advocating for years to create a hotline with multilingual services for British Columbians to report racist incidents.

“This amounts to another broken promise by Premier David Eby and confirms he is all talk and no action,” said Wat. “Abandoning this commitment sends a troubling message that the government does not take the concerns of racialized communities seriously — they deserve better.”