This past Saturday, three individuals were standing at St. Vital Avenue on St. Albert trail holding up extremely racist and offensive signs. Police arrived at the scene and talked to the individuals who all left. No arrests were made.
St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron believed that the city was above this. “It’s disheartening and I would’ve hoped that St. Albert was above it, but Saturday showed us that maybe we need to do a little more.”
The signs they were holding up had different anti-immigration sentiments like “Deport them all,” “import 3rd world, welcome 3rd world,” and “white lives matter.” Also, at least one of the three protestors threw up a Nazi salute. Through some digging on social media, it was discovered that one identified protestor has been involved with a demonstration like this before in Calgary. Apparently this pop-up was not an isolated event and similar demonstrations have been happening all over the country.
A small counter protest did take place in St. Albert this past Monday. On the corner of St. Albert trail, mother Ashley Winnington and her two children held up pro-diversity signs. They read “Love thy neighbour!” “I value diversity,” and “Thank you immigrants for strengthening communities!” Winnington decided to take a stand after her and her children felt surprised and offended by the racist demonstration on Saturday.
Photo by u/yogirunner93.
