The Town of Innisfail has made national headlines over the last week for reactions to a proposed rally in support of Black Lives Matter. 

Initially, an event was created by Innisfail resident Brittany Bovey that would have brought people together to talk about local racism and actions that could be taken to create a more inclusive community. 

However, Bovey’s initial post received many controversial comments, with people saying there was no need for such an event or that they would not tolerate this kind of “extremism” in their town. 

Since that original event was canceled, a new gathering has been organized and will go ahead on June 13th near the No Frills parking lot in Innisfail. 

Innisfail’s Mayor Jim Romane was initially quoted in a Calgary Herald interview, saying “All Lives Matter”, for which he was publicly called out for being off the mark and missing the purpose of planning a rally in support of #BlackLivesMatter. 

Since that time, Romane was interviewed by the Sunny 94 team and said, "It’s certainly been interesting. We finally have gotten down to a manageable scenario of what’s intended, that being [working with] the young lady that is putting this rally together. She is genuine in approaching racism and discrimination in our community as much as any other community. It wasn’t something specific, other than just basic racism and discrimination in any community. I defy anybody to say that their community doesn’t have it, or a certain degree of it."

Romane has publicly addressed his comments in a written statement, posted to the Town of Innisfail’s news archives. On June 9th, the Town of Innisfail proposed a motion in council that they would support the event, which received the endorsement of all counselors except one, Glen Carritt.

"But we didn’t feel and still don’t feel that it’s rampant in our community but we’re certainly on side of working with awareness and trying to alleviate that as much as possible. But you don’t know the impact of it unless you're actually experiencing it and that’s difficult."

The organizers of Saturday's event, Central Alberta Against Racism, have said they want this event to be a peaceful gathering and encourage all attendees to follow physical distancing measures as much as possible or to wear non-medical face masks to comply with Alberta Health Services guidelines for public gatherings. 

Saturday's event will feature presentations and speakers, some of which include organizers from Ubuntu - Mobilizing Central Alberta, a non-profit organization recently started in the area to help facilitate conversations and events to address racial discrimination. 

Despite the peaceful intent of the rally, counter-protesters with members in groups like Yellow Vests and Soldiers of Odin have said they will be in attendance.

Innisfail RCMP has also said they will attend.  A statement was provided by K Division Media Relations officer Laurel Scott, saying,"We will have a respectful police presence in Innisfail. Our role is to preserve the peace, protect life and property, and enforce the law. This includes protecting protestors' rights to peaceful, lawful, and safe demonstrations."

Sunny 94/lacombeonline.com reached out to Brittany Bovey and other event organizers, but they were unavailable for comment at the time of writing.