White-supremacist highway sign casts pall on Steinbach city council campaign

The RCMP is investigating a white-nationalist sign near Steinbach with racist messaging and alleged links to a known Canadian far-right group.

A sign hanging on a overpass at the intersection of Highways 1 and 12 read: “STEINBACH VOTES WHITE NOT BROWN,” according to photos posted on social media.

Also written was the name Nationalist-13, a men’s-only neo-Nazi group, also known as NS-13, primarily based in Hamilton, Ont. The Free Press couldn’t independently verify if the group is associated or who hung the sign.

“On Oct. 13, the Steinbach RCMP were made aware of this sign and have opened an investigation,” a spokesperson said in an email statement. They also said the sign has been removed.

Steinbach city council candidate Mitesh Kumar said he’s concerned for his family’s safety, especially if NS-13 is behind the message.

“I’ve been part of the community. I go to churches. I have friends here. I don’t think this banner represents Steinbach,” Kumar said.

Over the three months he’s campaigned, Kumar said he’s faced hate speech both online and in person, with others telling him the community belongs to white people.

Kumar said his approach is to try to educate and broaden peoples’ perspectives.

Kumar moved from India to Canada 20 years ago and has lived in Steinbach for a decade. He also ran for city council in 2018.

He said the sign won’t have any effect on his campaign before the Oct. 28 election.

City council candidate Greg Carlos, who has lived in Steinbach for 21 years, emigrated from the Philippines.

He said he hasn’t faced racism while living in the city, but the sign is concerning.

“To have the confidence and eagerness to put that sign in public, it gives them more courage to do that to other people,” he said.

The Free Press reported last month that NS-13 posted about spreading recruitment material in Steinbach and Winnipeg on its Telegram account, an encrypted communication app where the group has more than 4,000 followers.

NS-13, whose slogan is “folk, family, future,” touts itself as an “active club.” The clubs are white-nationalist cells that present themselves as fitness-focused, mixed-martial-arts organizations, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks extremism across the ideological spectrum.

Ameil Joseph, a Hamilton-based white supremacy scholar, has studied the rise of NS-13. He said the highway banner marks an alarming trend, with the group expanding and becoming bolder.

“This is a more worrying tactic for them to target particular candidates and knowingly expose themselves for who they are and what what they’re doing,” Joseph said.

It’s difficult for law enforcement to track the group because there is no clear organizational structure and how they raise funds is relatively unknown, he said.

Conspiracy theories on immigration and the replacement of white people circulating online have also helped normalize groups such as NS-13, Joseph said.

Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk said he’s disgusted that the sign was installed and associated with the community.

“That sign, to me, is very offensive. It’s just horrible. That kind of hate is not our community,” he said.

Funk said he finds it encouraging to see Steinbach’s diversity represented by the candidates running in the municipal election as the city’s Indo-Canadian and Filipino communities continue growing.

City council candidate Damian Penner alerted Funk about the sign after his wife saw it while driving to Winnipeg Tuesday.

He said he fears that there are individuals in the city with the beliefs expressed on the sign.

“Hiding behind anonymity is cowardice and pathetic. It’s not what our city is built on. It’s not what our province is built on,” Penner said.

matthew.frank@winnipegfreepress.com