By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19) and Troy Gillard (@Troy_Gillard)

‘Mass immigration’ talk relocated, pro-diversity groups speak out

Nov 23, 2018 | 12:15 PM

A group wanting to put a halt to “mass immigration” to Canada is returning to Red Deer this weekend.

The National Citizens Alliance (NCA) is hosting an event Saturday afternoon from 2 – 4 p.m.

It was supposed to take place at the Sheraton. However, the NCA says they were notified Thursday by hotel management the meeting could not take place there because the Sheraton was “overbooked.” The meeting will instead take place at 5233-54 Avenue.

NCA founder and leader Stephen Garvey tells rdnewsNOW that they are under contract with the Sheraton, and that the hotel was obligated to find them a new venue.

The new location happens to be the building currently proposed as a permanent home for supervised consumption services.

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The NCA will have its own security present at Saturday’s event, as well as security provided by the hotel, according to Garvey.

The NCA says on its Facebook page that “Mass immigration is putting a severe strain on the welfare system and contributing to the erosion of Canada’s traditional identity, heritage, and cultural norms,” and that mass immigration “is contributing to the financial demise of Canada as millions and millions flow out of Canada through residents and new citizens sending money back to their homelands.”

Garvey, who calls it “ridiculous” to suggest that immigrants are benefitting the economy, is making it clear that Saturday’s meeting is for everyone to come share their thoughts and ideas.

“Obviously, protestors, we can’t stop them, but we encourage them to stay out of the venue. Go on the corner. That’s free speech, too,” he says. “If they’re willing to be civil and come in and share what they think about mass immigration, that’s fine, as long as they don’t disrupt us. It’s not about immigrants, it’s about mass immigration.”

At least a few people will be at Saturday’s meeting who disagree strongly with the NCA’s message.

Kareen Lambert, who co-chairs the Red Deer Welcoming and Inclusive Communities Network, says she’ll be there to listen, not to protest.

“I find their message exceedingly troubling. They’ve tried to kind of couch their message a bit with this term ‘mass immigration,’ but in a video on their event page, they quickly drop the term ‘mass,’ and just discuss immigration,” Lambert says. 

“Working as we do in trying to ensure our communities are welcoming and inclusive, any messaging that comes in and is very clearly focusing on race as a problem, concerns us to say the least. His video is very clear in its statements they feel Canada should be a bi-cultural country, that we are French and English only — they kind of throw in Aboriginal people when they feel like it.”

Lambert adds that it’s also troubling the NCA would feel like they have the support to come back to Red Deer after rallying against immigration in May 2017 outside Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School following a series of fights involving Syrian students.

“They talk about opening up the charter if they were ever to be elected, to remove protections based on race and ethnicity, which is terrifying to think about,” Lambert continues.

Garvey told rdnewsNOW, “Every year, Euro-Canadians are becoming less and less of the total population. Euro-Canadians founded this country, and that’s wrong. Our country is being transformed radically right now… It’s a myth that this country is a nation of immigrants.”

Lori Jack, co-chair of Red Deer’s Local Immigrant Partnership, says the NCA’s position on how immigrants impact the economy is totally inaccurate, according to national statistics.

“The majority of newcomers to Canada are from what’s called the economic class, which means they’re able to come because their skills and abilities will contribute immediately to the economy. I think of Red Deer and how many local physicians are immigrants, as one example. That’s about 65 per cent of the newcomers,” Jack says.

“About 25 per cent are from the family class which means they have family that have become citizens or permanent citizens.  Again, these are people coming and contributing to the economy and to the fabric of our community.”

The other 10 per cent, Jack says, are people fleeing their country for humanitarian reasons.

“There’s no evidence they (immigrants) are detracting from our economy at all,” she adds.

Earlier this year, the NCA was banned from Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley Apple Blossom Festival, and from holding a public meeting at the Halifax Legion. Garvey claims the Legion informed them they have a policy against all political events occurring there.

Management with the Red Deer Sheraton hotel has not returned our request for comment.