White supremacist flyers have appeared outside Burnaby’s Metrotown library twice in less than a month.
Just before opening on Oct. 29, a patron alerted library staff black and red posters emblazoned with swastikas and the caption “Deeds not Words” had been stuck on the library’s front door.
The flyers advertised the neo-Nazi group Iron March, which describes itself as the internet’s “premium purity spiraling website.”
“We obviously took them down as soon as we could and we reported it to the RCMP,” chief librarian Beth Davies told the NOW. “We spent a long time talking to the patron who reported it just to make sure they were OK and to make sure that they understood that we would be taking this really seriously.”
Ten days later, however, Twitter user Lea Cohodas tweeted a photo of a flyer advertising another white supremacist group, Stormfront.
This time the flyer had been posted on a utility pole outside of the library.
Along with the caption “The storm has arrived. Where will you seek shelter,” it featured a “White Pride Worldwide” logo and a URL to its website.
Davies doesn’t believe the library is being targeted per se.
“It’s a visible space,” she said. “The Metrotown branch is pretty close to the SkyTrain; we’re a fairly visible location.”
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, a human rights group that tracks anti-Semitic incidents throughout the country, denounced the posters.
“These flyers have no place in Canadian cities where we celebrate diversity and acceptance,” said president and CEO Avi Benlolo. “It’s up to the community to be vigilant in countering attempts by such groups to recruit people to their brand of intolerance and increase their visibility. Anyone who spots these or similar hate-inspired flyers should file a report with the local police.”
Burnaby-Deer Lake MLA Anne Kang, who moved to Canada from Taiwan as a six-year-old, shared his sentiments – but for her it’s personal.
“I think the beauty of Burnaby lies in the diversity of multiculturalism and of the citizens who live here,” she said. “For me, it’s very upsetting because I’ve been blessed with so many friends from everywhere, and I’ve never truly felt racism toward me, so people who are coming out to put up these posters are very cowardly just standing behind these posters. They know the majority of us are standing united, together, and celebrating diversity.”
Burnaby RCMP confirmed it was investigating the incidents.
