Editor’s note: Calgary police said on Jan. 30 the investigation into alleged racist death threats against Nimra Amjad was dropped in October after the complaint was withdrawn.
Warning: This story contains offensive language. Discretion is advised.
Calgary police are investigating a possible hate crime after a disturbing series of messages were posted online, targeting a Calgary public school trustee candidate.
Nimra Amjad, 32, is running for the Calgary Board of Education (CBE) position for Wards 3 and 4.
On Tuesday, she opened her Facebook campaign profile to find racial slurs and a death threat.
One of the public posts read as follow:
“Paki b—h what right do you have to run for office in Canada? We will find out where you live, the Aryan Guard will find you. Beware.”
A second post included:
“You will be lying dead on the street like Heather Heyer.”
Heyer, 32, was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist rally Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.
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“We shouldn’t think that it could never happen here or that there aren’t elements here that sympathize with that,” Amjad told Global News.
“There’s a racial slur involved…there’s a reference to what’s happened in the U.S.”
Amjad has asked police to investigate.
Another message from the same account was sent to her privately. It reiterated the first hateful messages.
“Paki b—h, what business do you have running for council? Canada belongs to white people. The Aryan Guard will come for you, Muslim scum.”
The Aryan Guard is a formerly active white power group in Calgary.
The Calgary Police Service Hate Crimes Unit is investigating.
“That might well fit the criteria of a hate crime: if the motivation fits, the victim’s opinion, witness statements,” Sgt. Craig Collins said.
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The mayor said these kinds of racist attacks can’t be tolerated.
“Today we saw a candidate for school board trustee – someone who just wants to help the schools run better – receive an actual death threat on her Facebook page from a guy who used his real name,” Naheed Nenshi said.
He said he has faced an increase in attacks over the past few years himself and now deals with them on a daily basis.
“I have been ringing the alarm bell on increasing voices of anger bitterness and intolerance for some time now,” Nenshi said.
“The only way to solve this is by good, decent people standing up and saying: ‘This is not appropriate. It’s not appropriate online; it’s not appropriate in line at the Tim Hortons.’ And every single one of us has to stand up against it.”
Amjad said she knows this is just one person’s racist opinion.
“I know that this doesn’t represent the majority of Calgarians or Canadians …this doesn’t at all represent my experience in Calgary,” she said.
And though the incident has shaken her, she’s decided she must push forward with her campaign.
“I think it would send the wrong message if I decided not to run. I have to be honest, I did think of that, because there have been moments where I’ve felt really afraid.”