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‘Lift her up’ campaign launched to counter ‘Lock her up’ chant

Click to play video: 'Crowd chants ‘lock her up’ outside Alberta legislature'
Crowd chants ‘lock her up’ outside Alberta legislature
WATCH ABOVE: During a rally against Alberta’s carbon tax at the Alberta legislature Saturday, the crowd chanted “lock her up”, referring to Premier Rachel Notley – Dec 5, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE: Video edited to add credit to Rebel Media.

The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters has launched a campaign in response to the chants of “lock her up” against Rachel Notley at the Alberta legislature last weekend.

READ MORE: Rachel Notley says ‘lock her up’ chant should be concerning to parties 

The Lift Her Up campaign was launched Friday. It calls for Albertans to stand up against bullying rhetoric and sexist or violent language towards women.

“It’s really a response to what we saw happen on the steps of the legislature last weekend,” said Jan Reimer, executive director of Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters.

“The whole way of portraying women who are leaders, women who are in positions in power, there really needs to be something in response to that.”

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The “lock her up” incident happened last weekend at an anti-carbon tax rally organized by Rebel Media, an online news outlet.

READ MORE: Chris Alexander speech at Edmonton rally prompts ‘lock her up’ chant for Rachel Notley

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Shelter directors in Edmonton made the decision to launch the campaign after discussing concerns about the effect these messages have on the province’s boys and girls.

“[We] realized how devastating that could be. For women who have left domestic violence, because sometimes their partners do threaten or do lock them up,” Reimer said.

“We don’t want to feed those kinds of chants and call-downs of women in positions of power.

“We think it accelerates other types of behaviours that are totally creating unsafe places for women.”

READ MORE: Conservative leadership candidate Brad Trost tweets ‘lock her up’ rally support 

The Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters is inviting people to help “lift up” women by speaking out against bullying behaviours by using the hashtag #LiftHerUp.

READ MORE: Alberta, federal politicians denounce ‘lock her up’ rally as Trump-style politics 

https://twitter.com/MsSarahDawson/status/807367441844031488

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The council is also offering Lift Her Up T-shirts on its website next week, with proceeds going to support Alberta’s women’s shelters.

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