Racist stickers posted at LRT station

Stickers emblazoned with the insignia of a white nationalist group have appeared on walls at the Lions Park LRT station, again raising concerns about racism in the city.

The stickers, bearing the slogan “Blood & Honour,” purport to belong to 28 Canada, a nationalist group.

Josilyn Martens, a social work student at Bow Valley College, said it’s another sad reminder that racism is still prevalent in Canada.

The group said in a statement on its website their goal is to “raise awareness of issues concerning our nation and the people herein, as well as to unite those people with a legitimate interest in securing the future of our European cultural identity under one common banner.”

Judy Shapiro, associate executive director of the Calgary Jewish Federation, said she’s not surprised about such messaging popping up in Calgary.

“My sense is that there is a wee bit of a resurgence of white nationalists or supremacy in Calgary, but it’s not a surprise because it’s never really gone away,” Shapiro said.

However, Shapiro added, the only thing Calgarians can do is to speak out against such hatred.

Senior Const. Craig Collins, hate crimes co-ordinator with the Calgary Police Service, said it’s not against the law to have an alternative view, and the stickers don’t constitute hate speech.

“For something to cross the line into criminal hate speech, it has to be targeted toward an identifiable group, be made and said publicly and must be likely to lead to harm against those individuals. In the case of these stickers, this criteria isn’t met,” Collins added.