‘I was speechless’: St. Albert protest condemned by community leaders, RCMP now investigating

A protest held by three people northwest of Edmonton over the weekend is being investigated by RCMP who said investigators are consulting with the Mounties’ hate crimes co-ordinator on the case.

Janet Glockler-Hooke told 880 CHED she was headed to a mall in St. Albert, Alta., on Saturday and when she turned into the parking lot, she noticed three men holding signs and flags that concerned her. Photos of the men show one sign that said “import third world become third world.”

One of the flags was of a Celtic cross, a symbol that is regularly used by neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.

All three people’s faces were covered and they were all dressed in black.

“I stopped to cry because I was just so emotional,” Glockler-Hooke said in an interview on Monday. “And then I thought, ‘I can’t go in the mall. I have to drive over and talk to them.”

She said she drove up to the protesters and told them what they were doing was shameful and they should go home. She said at least one of the three then gave her a Nazi salute and she reported the incident to police.

Photos have since circulated online of at least one of the protesters appearing to give a Nazi salute. Global News has not been able to independently verify who took the photos of the salute but the men appear to be the same ones that Global News has obtained photos of.

In a news release, the RCMP said officers responded to the protest on St. Albert Trail just after 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, when they were first alerted to it.

“Police immediately attended, identified and spoke to the three participants,” police said. “No arrests were made at the time, and the group dispersed. …

“We are committed to ensuring everyone we serve can live in communities free from discrimination and bias, and we take any action that threatens the safety and security of others extremely seriously.

“The investigation into this incident is ongoing.”

The mayor of St. Albert spoke to 880 CHED about her reaction when she first saw the photos.

“I was speechless and flabbergasted when someone sent me the photos,” Cathy Heron said. “Ninety-nine per cent of people are very offended.

Heron said she believes the vast majority of St. Albert’s residents are supportive of inclusion and immigration in our community, but noted the incident has been “eyeopening. … that there’s still a belief out there that some people in our community are not welcome.”

Heron added that her father was an immigrant to Canada and that she struggles to understand anti-immigrant sentiments when most people in the country are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants.

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“That combination of culture and vibrancy is what makes St. Albert, in my mind, amazing,” she said.

Stacey Leavitt-Wright, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Edmonton, spoke to Global News on Monday, which happened to be International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

She called the incident “abhorrent” and said her organization has noted a spike in antisemitism in the past year.

“There is no place for anything like that in Alberta,” she said. “It is spreading of hate through gestures and signs.”

Leavitt-Wright said she worries that if such incidents occur more frequently, people may become desensitized to antisemitism.

“I think it is really important that we pay attention to the education,” she said. “That we’re looking at how we’re teaching kids about hate and discrimination and understanding the impacts of it on Albertans and how to stand up against it.”

–with files from Jasmine King, Global News

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