People in the Central Frederick neighbourhood in downtown Kitchener reported receiving copies of the controversial Your Ward News Wednesday morning.
The Toronto-based publication regularly contains articles maligning women, Jews, Muslims and the LGBTQ community.
It is unclear who distributed the copies in the downtown Kitchener neighbourhood or how many homes received them as Canada Post was banned by the federal government from distributing the publication in 2016.
READ MORE: Local publisher charged with promoting hatred against Jewish community, women
The publication’s editor, James Sears, says that Kitchener has recently been added to the newspaper’s distribution list.
“If someone in your city has received the paper, it means that several people in his/her neighbourhood wanted a copy,” he told Global News through email.
“The papers are being delivered by local citizens who wanted subscriptions, are disgusted by the Canada Post mail ban, and volunteered to help us red-pill their neighbours.”
Sears said that the paper’s distribution area has spread across the region.
“We have dozens of cities and towns that we’ve been distributing to for many months that are near you, including but not limited to Niagara region, Hamilton, Chatham and London. I believe that your city is the most recent addition in that area,” Sears wrote.
READ MORE: Criminal charges laid against editor, publisher of controversial newspaper
Ward 10 Coun. Sarah Marsh said her office has already received a couple of complaints from concerned citizens in Central Frederick.
“I have received complaints. I am concerned that the paper is trying to represent the ward I represent and it does not,” Marsh said. “The city of Kitchener stands for equality, inclusion and diversity and it does not condone hate.”
Sears and publisher Lawrence (Leroy) St. Germaine were both charged in November 2017 with willful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, Jews and women.
In 2016, Warren and Lisa Kinsella, political strategists and activists, said a justice of the peace agreed to charge the two men behind Your Ward News with uttering threats.
The pair said the charges stem from one of the publication’s issues, in which editor James Sears wrote that his supporters may decide to “bludgeon the Kinsellas to death.”
— With files from The Canadian Press