Rural Alberta Against Racism (RAAR) is clapping back against the response from the RCMP and government officials regarding the alleged assault that took place at one of their demonstrations held in Red Deer’s Rotary Recreation Park on Sunday, September 20th. Videos of the violence that occured has been making waves online nationally.

However, the group was largely disappointed by the response of officials after attention was garnered through various media outlets.

“The actions and the statement on the behalf of the Red Deer RCMP is deplorable. In this statement, Red Deer RCMP Superintendent, Gerald Grobmeier mentions that the RCMP have begun an investigation. There was no interest in investigating these attacks prior to media reports when the attacks went viral,” said Callum Daniels, a member of Rural Alberta Against Racism in a statement.

Video of the incident is available below.

WARNING: VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE. Video courtesy of Jeremy Russell.

 

He claims that when the assault occurred, RCMP took no interest in getting witness statements at the time. Furthermore, the Rural Alberta Against Racism was very disappointed in the lack of cooperation stating that there was no excuse for officers to arrive late to the event.

Outside of the demonstration, many of those in the organization have felt unsafe in their communities over the past few months after receiving threats and angry messages both in-person and online.

“We can't bring them anonymous emails. We can't bring them unknown phone calls. We can't bring them hundreds of Facebook messages that we have received. We're literally on our own out here. When something happens that's so public and police still won't do anything, you feel up against a wall with what you can do,” said Taylor McNallie, a member of Rural Alberta Against Racism.

Hate groups have made their presence known at almost every one of their demonstrations. In Ponoka, one of their members was struck by a vehicle only a week prior to the incident in Red Deer.  

Black and Indigenous Alliance is met with counter-protesters outside of the Ponoka RCMP Detachment on September 14th, 2020.

Members of the organization were also displeased with Red Deer Mayor, Tara Veer who they claimed dismissed the incident as something that happened because of the pandemic and competing worldviews.  

“Mayor Tara Veer you failed to acknowledge and take action on the violence and racism within the city of Red Deer. There is no policy or political ideal when it comes to being anti-racist,” said Callum Daniels in his statement.

Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer give her statement on September 23rd about the anti-racist demonstration at Red Deer Rotary Recreation Park.

Soon after the violence took place, NDP party leader, Rachel Notley met and spoke with the members of RAAR. However, the group was disappointed by Premier Jason Kenney’s response through the Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, Kaycee Madu which was understood to be a hollow gesture.

“I find it very poignant that Mr. Kenney decided he was going to choose a racialized man to make his statement. I do understand that the Justice Minister is the Justice Minister. However, he is a racialized man and it feels very token…I would argue that if Mrs. Notley can come and speak with us, Mr. Kenney can come and speak with us,”said Kisha Daniels, a member of RAAR.

The group is still in discussion of having a meeting scheduled with Kenney and Madu to speak further about the situation. 

Kisha noted their group is often invited to communities across the province to host demonstrations by racialized people and white allies who believe their communities are in need of those types of conversations. Although they do not plan on giving up their demonstrations, they do plan on taking actions to protect their safety. Demonstrations may be held virtually, on private property, or with short notice.

The group hopes to host their next event in Lacombe and says the City is well prepared to cooperate with them and protect them if need be which has not been the case with a lot of communities they've visited so far.

“I have spoken to members of the city of Lacombe. They are going to put me in contact with the Lacombe Police. I was informed by the lady who I spoke to at the town that they welcome our event. They're excited about our event and that the consensus is that if these white supremacist groups come to disrupt our peaceful anti-racism conversation, the townspeople themselves will chase them out of there. So, we're excited about that,” explained Kisha.

In other scenarios, they have informed town councils about their demonstrations and have been ignored time and time again.  Regardless of the response to their events, they plan to continue on with their work in hopes to see real change in their home communities.