RCMP are investigating after Islamophobic stickers were found in Sherwood Park earlier this week.
Trish Agrell-Smith was walking to a bus stop on her way to work when a sticker on the back of a stop sign caught her attention.
“I was really angry. I was really angry to see this kind of hateful messaging showing up in my neighbourhood,” said Agrell-Smith.
The sticker she found challenges the validity of Islam, and directs people to a website.
“The vast majority of folks aren't going to visit the website, they're not going to actually dig in to the really powerful and really horrifying rhetoric that these people are sharing,” said Agrell-Smith.
“It's quiet and it becomes part of the background noise so that messaging, even though you may not be picking it up consciously, you still see it, you still read it, it still becomes part of your subconscious and becomes part of the fabric of our community.”
She said she tore the sticker off the sign.
“I get so mad when I think about it because it's cowardly, because there's no accountability for the people who are saying hateful things.”
RCMP tell CTV News Edmonton they are looking into reports of the stickers.
Agrell-Smith added she could have ignored the sticker or taken it down without sharing photos of it on social media, however she wanted to start a conversation about intolerance.
Dear #shpk white supremacist assholes: Fixed that for ya. Keep your racist dog whistle bullshit vandalism out of my neighbourhood. (@Cclr_Brian this is in your ward.) This is NOT how we treat our neighbours. Sincerely, me. @LindsayDMorey @StrathcoDiv @StrathcoCounty pic.twitter.com/P7scxJmTkp
— Trish Agrell-Smith (@trishagrell) September 18, 2019
“Diversity makes us stronger and it makes our lives and our communities richer so to see this kind of messaging show up on the corner of my street, is really infuriating.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
