A banner hung on an overpass south of Campbell River depicting a white nationalist statement is 鈥渘ot something we want our community to be known for,鈥� says RCMP Sgt. Chris Voller.
The banner, which displayed a link to a Telegram Channel, which the company says is a 鈥渢ool for broadcasting your public messages to large audiences鈥� as well as a message with white supremacist content, was pictured hanging on the Airport Main overpass where it crosses Highway 19. The image has been shared on Facebook as well as Reddit, and had come to the attention of the Campbell River RCMP detachment.
鈥淟ike any other citizen of our area, I was disappointed,鈥� said Voller. 鈥淚 look at Campbell River as having a pretty diverse cultural background. We have a lot of Indigenous people, we鈥檙e a melting pot society, we have all this representation and then there鈥檚 somebody who is deciding to put this kind of message out.
鈥淚t鈥檚 twofold: it鈥檚 the wrong message 鈥� obviously that sort of thing has no place in Campbell River 鈥� and then two, to other individuals who are visiting our area it really reflects poorly on what I think Campbell River鈥檚 community base is,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a good, respectful group of people that finds that different cultures actually enrich community and don鈥檛 take away from it, as that person would purport.鈥�
Voller鈥檚 sentiment was echoed on social media. One Reddit user wrote in response to a person of colour living in Campbell River that 鈥渢his is DEFINITELY not what CR is about. A group of my friends drove down to take it down, but it was already cut. Please know that you are more than welcome in our community.鈥�
Voller said the detachment had another report about this kind of thing a few months ago. He is asking if people see further banners or messages like this to report them to the RCMP non-emergency line immediately.
鈥淲e would never promote a driver using a digital device, but if they could note if there鈥檚 a person or vehicle present there, we would value that,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f they are able to wait with it, let the police know and we鈥檒l get there as soon as possible鈥� Please leave it as it is, let the police get there and handle it. It would be treated as evidence.鈥�
Though the social media attention could have the effect of increasing the message鈥檚 reach, Voller said that within Campbell River he thinks there is 鈥渘o appetite for that.鈥�
鈥淧eople deserve to not have to see that. There鈥檚 enough tragic things going on in the world that draw our attention to negative things, we don鈥檛 need this in Campbell River,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is the first time I鈥檝e seen something that I believe is a race-based hate crime. It鈥檚 hard to say if this would meet the definition for a hate crime, but it鈥檚 certainly inflammatory. It鈥檚 racialized, and not anything that we would want to have in our community.鈥�
鈥淥ur community has gone through a lot,鈥� he said 鈥淲e鈥檝e had a lot of issues, especially in the past few months with violence and this sort of thing, and this is just not becoming of our community.鈥�
The RCMP non-emergency line is 250-286-6221.
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marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.com
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