A Kamloops Mountie has come under fire after images of himself receiving a skincare treatment with comments comparing his appearance to wearing blackface surfaced on social media.
In the captions beneath the images that began circulating on social media last week, Cst. Rupert Meinke writes that he's receiving a "Black face session," which is "supposed to help his looks." He adds, "I don't think it's working."
In a second caption, Meinke asks,"Is my skincare racist? Micro aggressions matter."
Former RCMP Officer Chad Haggerty, who is Metis, shared the images and captions on his personal Twitter account on July 3. He writes, "How is it that [RCMP] officers don't understand privacy settings on their social media?"
Haggerty underscores that there are issues in the RCMP, and calls to "Defund Police."
How is it that @rcmpgrcpolice officers don’t understand pricacy settings on their social media?
— Chad Haggerty (@Chagg164) July 3, 2020
Take Rupert Meinke of the @KamloopsRCMP - despite everything going on in the world, he thinks these public posts are appropriate.
Nope, no issues in the RCMP...🤷🏻♂️#DefundPolice pic.twitter.com/HShllPi0IF
Staff Sgt. Janelle Shoihet, Senior Media Relations Officer at the BC RCMP "E" Division Headquarters, tells Vancouver Is Awesome in an email that a review into the incident is underway.
"Initial review has determined the post you are referencing was posted in May 2020 on a personal social media account," writes Shoihet. "The review remains ongoing and will seek to determine further context, as well as a greater picture of the social media profile in question."
Last week, a Fort Langley school principal issued an apology after a photo of him in blackface surfaced on social media.
Jon Bonnar was vice-principal at the Langley Fine Arts School in 2007 when the incident took place. In a statement issued by the school on June 25, he writes that he was in blackface up as part of a Halloween costume where he and the school's principal dressed up as each other.
