Colwood Councillor issues apologies and deflects blame for dressing in blackface

Content warning: the subject matter of this article may be sensitive to some readers. 

Colwood City Councillor Ian Ward is being called out online regarding a photo which has surfaced of him dressing in blackface for Halloween in 2007. 

Additionally, Ward appears to have gold teeth and an afro in the photo. 

Since then, he has issued three apologies, all of which deflect blame and accuse those who called him out of hacking the blog post where the photo was posted and being “anonymous anti-semitic, anti-law enforcement leftist extremists.”

Local activist,advocate for arts in Greater Victoria and music label runner, Colin McTaggart has been vocal online about the blackface photo and was one of the individuals initially bringing the photo to light. 

McTaggart wrote in a Reddit post that he originally found and posted about the photo on September 13th, via X. 

But more recently, in the past 10 days, he says the narrative has shifted and he wanted to set the record straight. 

The 2007 blog post, which the blackface photo was posted in, is available via Wayback. 

In this post, Ward’s then wife said she spent 45 mins “turning Ian into a black man with stage paint.” 

She added that “it was freakin [sic] hilarious but scared the crap out of Liam who kept crying every time Ian would say something to him.”

The first apology

Shortly after the blog post came to light, Ward issued the first of his three apologies. 

“17 yrs ago I attended a private corporate party with consenting people (Caucasian, BIPOC and LGBTQ+) with a “non PC” costume contest,” Ward wrote. 

He defended his costume by saying that at this ‘non-politically correct’ party, a gay colleague of his dressed as  a Mormon missionary and an Asian colleague wore a white-faced car salesman. 

“Would I do it today? Hell no. Am I proud of it? Hell no,” he continued.  

“Will people be offended today at something 17yrs ago [sic] – of course. We apply today’s lense [sic] to (almost) everything in the past. We aren’t allowed to grow as people or change, or move on apparently, not if it gives food to the trolls.”

He then turned attention to McTaggart, accusing him of being a “master troll”. 

“So please, cancel me if you will. I know what I stand for today and his slimy leftist cancel culture ‘win’ doesn’t change that. People are tiring of character assassinations as the default response to political waffling by our government and their ‘win at all costs’ troll supporters,” Ward concluded. 

The second apology

After a hiatus from using X, Councillor Ward made a much longer attempt at an apology for the blackface photo. 

“I have returned to address the politically motivated actions of the anonymous anti-semitic, anti-law enforcement leftist extremists, being aided and abetted in their toxic (and potentially illegal) behaviour by local failed musician and left-wing political activist Colin McTaggert and others,” began Ward. 

“A photo released by one of the anonymous trolls was amplified by Colin within minutes of its release (indicating this was a coordinated effort).”

He wrote that the near two-decade old photo was posted by his ex-wife and parent of his child and alleged that the private blog was hacked, taken over and turned public.

“As for the photo itself, it is embarrassing, and I offer no defense other than to say that times change, and people change,” wrote Councillor Ward. 

“I have grown as a person in the intervening almost two decades, and I consider myself an ally to BIPOC people. A two-decade old photo unearthed by politically motivated hackers and antisemitic [sic] and anti-police trolls has no bearing on who I am today.”

A large portion of Ward’s lengthy apology was largely an attack on McTaggart’s character that accuses him of being defamatory, taking anti-police and anti-Semitic stances. 

Though McTaggart has been accused multiple times by Ward of being anti-Semitic, he has not posted anything that would indicate these views. 

“My focus remains on bettering my community, such as the coming proposal to develop a medical clinic for our community to address the physician shortage so prevalent across BC but magnified in Colwood,” Ward wrote.

“I will not engage with Colin and his troll co-conspirators other than via my lawyer and police moving forward.”

He concluded by accusing those speaking out against him as wanting to “shut down all opposition to their activist extremist ideology.”

The third apology

Councillor Ward’s third apology was made in an interview with CTV Vancouver. 

In this interview he claimed to have been trying to dress up like rapper 50 Cent when the blackface photo was taken. 

To this, McTaggart noted in his Reddit post that “the blog states that his wife helped him dress up as a Black man.” 

“This wasn’t refuted until the CTV article, where he says he was dressed as 50 Cent. Is it ‘non-PC’ to be 50 Cent? Also, 50 Cent is not known for having an afro.”

Ward maintains in this interview that he did not intend to offend anyone with the costume. 

“I’m not a racist. I didn’t dress up to say, ‘Hey look at me, I can mock somebody’s culture or appearance,'” Ward told CTV News. 

Additionally, he maintains that the blog account was hacked to be made public, when previously it was private. 

Ward’s online behaviour 

McTaggart has been accused of being a troll by Ward in this online feud, but the Colwood councillor has been more vocal than he has through the last year. 

According to McTaggart, he has only commented on Ward’s X posts three times in his life—twice regarding Pacific FC coming to Victoria and once when Ward made comments on Ravi Parmar’s politics. 

However, Ward has left numerous comments on McTaggart’s account accusing him of hacking the blog. 

McTaggart said he asked the councillor to take down the comments unless he could provide proof, he complied, but left a parting note. 

“Colin is a pompous blowhard who aligns with anonymous troll accounts and will apparently anti-police and antisemitic [sic] aggressive cowards to attack those he’s ideologically opposed to,” Ward tweeted. 

“He talks a lot but doesn’t contribute to his community at the same level as those he criticizes. He’s a ‘do as I say, not as I do,’ kinda guy.”

Ward continued by saying McTaggart comes across at first as intelligent but that “belies his willingness to lend credibility to the bottom feeding dregs of X.”

To this attack on his character, McTaggart tweeted, “Final words from me – Stand up to the bullies and never let them libel you.”

Victoria Buzz reached out to the City of Colwood for a statement regarding if Ward will face punitive measures for the photo or for his online behaviour, but as of this publication, have not received a response. 

Currently, Ward’s X account has been deleted as well as his Facebook account. Additionally, he has deleted several of his contentious tweets and comments. 

Ward was voted to Colwood’s council in 2022.