'Anti-hate' watchdog plans to monitor APP independence events

An Alberta anti-hate crime watchdog plans to monitor Alberta Prosperity Project events as it advocates for Alberta independence, after reports of potentially hateful remarks. A report from the Edmonton Journal surfaced over the weekend, revealing that StopHateAB has received complaints about a series of potentially inflammatory remarks on immigration made at an APP event in Didsbury on Jan. 7. The statement in question came from the APP CEO and leader of the Stay Free Alberta petition, Mitch Sylvestre, when referencing a quote attributed to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:"The very concept of a nation founded by European settlers is offensive to me. Old stock white Canadians are an unpleasant relic and, quite frankly, replaceable. And we will replace them.”"Old stock white Canadians, and that’s us (people in the room), and we don’t have to apologize for this room being filled with white people,” said Sylvestre. “This used to be what Alberta was. We’re not apologizing for being ourselves.”Sylvestre said that Alberta welcomes immigrants, but subsequently quoted Trudeau again, suggesting that the federal government were replacing the people of Alberta. .Nina Saini, executive director of StopHateAB, told the Western Standard that this was not the first complaint they have received about APP or Alberta independence events. Given that they are not an enforcement or policing body, StopHateAB will not be conducting an "investigation," but they will be monitoring these independence discussions, particularly regarding the APP. This monitoring would look for potential hate incidents and possible increases in hate directed at specific groups or communities."Yeah, so we do heavily lean on our reporting tool to help indicate for us where hate is happening in the rise of the targeted communities, and then from there, we're able to individually reach out to those communities," Saini said when asked what the monitoring process looks like.From there, options include reaching out to a specific municipality to facilitate a conversation on the matter or joining multiple communities to have those discussions with institutions and law enforcement when necessary..StopHateAB is a non-profit organization that monitors and reports incidents of hate towards communities and strives to raise awareness and educate about hate crimes and incidents in Alberta.According to StopHateAB, their group processed 40 reports of hate incidents in 2024, 42.4% of which were "climate" motivated between October 2023 and December 2024. The StopHateAB 2025 report highlights five incidents they investigated during that period. All five were reported graffiti incidents, with two being anti-Jewish messages, two targeting black communities, and one targeting immigrants from India. Their non-profit is currently creating four anti-hate coalitions in four municipalities across Alberta, including Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Peace County, and Grand Prairie..Alberta independence events have generated varying media attention over recent weeks. A January 12 independence event, disconnected from the APP, became a major story after Canadian Brewhouse, scheduled to host it, backed out on the day of. The restaurant claimed to be unaware that it was happening and wanted to remain independent of all political movements. Stay Free Alberta has many events across Alberta, but the one expected to attract the most attention is their town hall at the Big Four building on the Calgary Stampede grounds on January 26 at 7 p.m.Individuals can track upcoming independence events on the Stay Free Alberta website.