The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce is coming to the defence of its new executive director who has found himself in a firestorm of controversy over his social media activity.

New hire John Perks says posts with anti-immigration, anti-abortion, pro-Trump, and anti-Trudeau memes are being taken out of context.

“People didn’t know me. They didn’t know my journey. They just took some screenshots or saw some posts without knowing my full background. Seeing posts with my Muslim friends, or me helping the Muslim community, even to the refugee program I have been helping. I think they wouldn’t know the full context.”

Perks was asked about a fake Winston Churchill quote he posted seeming to take an anti-Muslim stance.

“My family owns a series of restaurants. We have business partners that are Muslims. I have hired Muslims in the past. I have worked with them closely. So it was in no way directly against them more the extreme fundamentalists that come in and try and change Canadian culture. At the same time when I found out that, that post that I shared was fake I instructed my personal assistant at the time to take that post down and I find out now that, that wasn’t completed.”

Perks insists in no way was looking to denigrate Muslims as a whole.

“Because I have been working in international development helping women and children at risk I have been in cultures and nations where men are allowed to beat women publicly on the street. Women are consistently raped. Mutilation happens to them. I think that is when fundamental Islamic terrorism comes into play within society that is the effects on it. I also have close friends, some of my best friends, are Muslims who are peaceful people that are hard working.”

Chamber President Joshua Knaak agrees that Perks has been given a raw deal on social media.

“Sometimes that audience doesn’t know you as a person. Sometimes that audience doesn’t know the other things you are involved in. So sometimes that audience can take a specific thing and draw some assumptions out of it. I think that is what we feel happened here.”

Perks insists he is not the person he is being made out to be online noting his career in non-profits focused on orphans, children at risk, and rescuing women from human trafficking.

Below are screenshots of some of the examples of memes and other posts he shared online that are causing the controversy.

His Facebook account has now been made private.