A mysterious campaign has cropped up in Kits that takes aim at B.C.’s first lieutenant-governor, Sir Joseph William Trutch. Trutch has been dead for over 98 years.
Several street signs along Trutch Street have been defaced by a large white sticker that reads, “Joseph Trutch was a racist bigot”.
Throughout his political career, Trutch was noted for his hostility to land claims by First Nations people, and demonstrated contempt for their concerns.
According to a CBC report, residents say they noticed the signs two or three days ago, but the person or group behind the sticker campaign remains a mystery.
Trutch was an Englishman who grew up in Jamaica and came to British Columbia in the late 1850s. He engineered a bridge to move gold across the Fraser River near Spuzzum and was later named Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works.
