Angry High River residents are demanding answers from the RCMP, after officers seized weapons from dozens of homes during the June flood.
Homeowners are furious over damage done to their property during the searches, and made their anger clear during a town hall meeting in the community on Thursday night.
“This is Canada, and you’re not to kick a door down and take my property,” says Don White. “And they made all kinds of excuses, right? They were saving me. They were afraid of looters, whatever. And there was looters in there, and the looters had RCMP and army uniforms on.”
One after one, homeowners explained the damage they saw when they returned to their houses.
Many of them are now paying thousands of dollars for the repairs and want to be compensated.
The meeting was hosted by local MLA and Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, after hearing complaints about “the forced entry into private residences and the seizure of private property such as firearms.”
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The Mounties said at the time they took the weapons as officers searched homes in the town’s flood zone to look for stranded people, pets and anything that might pose a threat to returning residents.
They said officers found that some gun owners had laid out their weapons in plain view as they presumably moved valuable possessions to higher ground.
Most of the weapons were later returned to their owners.
The actions have sparked a war of words between the Redford government and the Opposition.
Alberta’s municipal affairs minister apologized on Thursday for using the F-word in criticizing the leader of the Opposition.
Doug Griffiths used the expletive in an interview with a newspaper over Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith’s concerns about the weapons seizure.
Griffiths apologized on Twitter for using inappropriate language.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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