By Scott Roblin

Police investigating downtown anti-immigration posters and stickers

Jul 16, 2018 | 5:35 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A shocking display of racism in Medicine Hat over the weekend as a pair of anti-immigration posters were found outside a local church.

Reverend Chelsea Masterman with the Westminster United Church was attending a service at the Fifth Avenue United Church on Sunday and returned to the Westminster location later that morning.

She found two posters when she returned, both stating the phrase ‘immigration equals white genocide’ and re-directing people to a website that promotes various anti-immigration beliefs.

“It’s just kind of a bit of a letdown to see something like that… it’s not okay, it’s not the sort of message that represents Medicine Hat,” said Masterman.

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The website claims that immigration is “a social engineering experiment that is conducted on Canada’s mainstream population in order to make it a minority” and “a goal of a significant number of these people (Muslims, Sikhs and Chinese particularly) is to have their groups outnumber the long-term population of Canada.”

Masterman added it’s disappointing to see her church being targeted, especially since the posters go against their core message.

“The Bible tells us to welcome the immigrant, welcome the alien, the sojourner in your midst, the stranger from another land,” she said.

Medicine Hat Police are now involved in the investigation after Masterman filed a report citing hate speech and vandalism, while the posters were handed over for fingerprinting.

Masterman believed the posters went above simply free speech and was enough to notify the authorities.

“It just seemed important to me that they be aware of that sentiment and the fact that there’s some signage being posted,” she said.

It’s something that Medicine Hat Police are aware of, as they’re investigating a similar sticker being left on someone’s car recently.

S/Sgt. Brian Christmann couldn’t confirm if the two cases were linked to the same individual, but added they are looking into the new reports.

“Apparently this literature was placed on this person’s vehicle sometime over the weekend,” said Christmann. “So, they’ve reached out to us just to see if there’s any sort of a criminality with that.”

The cases over the weekend aren’t new to Medicine Hat Police however, as they’ve looked into similar reports over since the spring.

According to police, local businesses in the downtown core are being targeted by these unknown suspects.

“The stickers have been placed on some buildings downtown, it’s been sporadic over the last couple months I’d say,” said Christmann.

While still unnerved by the posters, Masterman is taking solace in the fact that most people don’t share the same radical beliefs.

“It really is the minority of people that speak that way and believe those things,” she said. “And, the vast majority of people are open hearted and welcoming.”

Police have not yet said how long they’re expecting the investigation will take.