2019’s federal election campaign in Canada has already been plagued with a number of controversies, yet with a week still left of campaigning more are starting to surface. A Brampton NDP candidate faced intense scrutiny this week after a derogatory comment he made back in 2012 resurfaced. Jordan Boswell, the NDP candidate in Brampton Centre, released an apology on Twitter this Wednesday for a joke he posted about a sex trafficking survivor.

Boswell had tweeted a photo that featured a newspaper cover story about sex trafficking in a group home for teenage girls. The front page of the paper included a picture of an indigenous woman, a former teenage prostitute.

It read, "Former teenage prostitute says more can be done to help vulnerable girls avoid life in the sex trade." In caption shared alongside the photo, Boswell wrote: "Geez they're really letting everyone into that business these days #gottagetmesomeofthat #shejustmissedbeingpretty."

The comment sparked an immediate backlash from social media users. The candidate responded by issuing a formal apology via his Twitter page. "I deeply regret the hurtful and wrong comment I made on social media. I understand this type of language is offensive and harmful. I apologize unequivocally," Boswell wrote in a post on Wednesday night.

However, Boswell's apology did little to quell the already brewing backlash against him, with some even calling from him to resign over the remarks.

“Not good enough. I vote NDP, and you should resign from the campaign. Comments are made based on values and opinions. Yours have no place in government”, wrote one user. And others weren’t much more sympathetic “Unfortunately no apology will make it right. All you can do now is simmer in regret for the next decade.”

Liberal MP, Judy Sgro, faced similar backlash last week after she suggested that black voters “took great pride” in Trudeau’s blackface scandal. Sgro has since apologized for her comments.