INNISFAIL – Close to downtown Innisfail a Confederate flag has long been displayed in full public view from a ground floor apartment window.
Over the past few years, stickers, reportedly from far-right groups, have been intermittently placed on local street lamp posts. There have also been letters from extremist groups to local businesses offering “condolences” over the “aggression and harassment” from Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa members at an anti-racism rally two years ago.
There was never any proof or suggestion from law enforcement or the town the anti-racism rally was organized by anyone from BLM and Antifa but the letter nevertheless appeared.
“The unfortunate part is that there are groups that promote hate in our community, and I think it is upon as councillors to acknowledge that this does happen in small town Alberta and in large centres,” said Coun. Jason Heistad, who was at the anti-racism rally, and is aware of the Confederate flag that is brazenly in view.
Heistad is also supporting an initiative by his council colleague Cindy Messaros to raise the hate symbol issue more broadly to the community as a whole.
The first-term councillor introduced a motion to council on May 24 to endorse a federal initiative by NDP MP Peter Julian, who represents the riding of New Westminster—Burnaby, to amend the Criminal Code that would broaden provisions relating to hate propaganda.
This spring, the Town of Innisfail looked into directly regulating and prohibiting hate symbols in the updated Community Standards Bylaw but lawyers noted it would encroach federal jurisdiction and would likely infringe freedom of expression under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Julian’s private member’s Bill C-229 would make it a criminal offence to publicly display visual representations that promote or incite hatred or violence against an identifiable group.
His initiative includes Confederate flags, stickers and any literature targeting identifiable groups.
Council unanimously approved Messaros’ motion to support Julian’s initiative.
“Obviously our community is part of the global community. This is more of a global value,” said Messaros of her reason to introduce the motion to town council. “I think about parents and I think about families. I think about information and knowledge getting out in terms of some of the dangers that are out there, and how deeply some of these (extremist organizations) are organized.”
Last April, Julian hosted a town hall meeting to support Bill C-229, which to date has only had first reading in the House of Commons.
His research has concluded there has been a 40 per cent increase in toxic hate crimes over the past three years, as well as dramatic growth in the number of far-right organizations, from 100 in 2018 to more than 300 in 2021.
He further claimed 80 per cent of hate crimes are committed by far-right extremists.
“It’s more powerful and it’s more impactful when people who aren’t the target of this hate are speaking out against it,” said Messaros. “It’s about thinking about the families in Innisfail and just wanting to ensure that moms and dads are aware of some of the insidious ways that these groups get their marketing out, like those stickers.
“Their tactics are about organizing benign activities, such as litter pick-up, painting and that kind of thing."
Mayor Jean Barclay noted council’s endorsement is not “specifically targeted” to Innisfail as the legislation, if passed, is a “long way of anything changing at this point in time."
“We want all citizens in Innisfail to feel safe,” said Barclay of council’s message behind its endorsement. “This isn’t necessarily specific to Innisfail because we think we have a problem.
“It is happening here. It is happening all across the country. That is the whole point of Bill C-229 that says this is happening all across the country and we need to educate ourselves on what’s happening in our own communities and we need to make sure our residents feel safe.”
