RCMP investigating macabre display threatening rural officials in yard on ‘sovereign land’

Manitoba RCMP say they are investigating a disturbing display depicting threats toward elected municipal officials outside a home in the Rural Municipality of Taché after receiving a pair of complaints earlier this week.

The display, located on a Ste-Genevieve property on Municipal Road 41E, about 45 minutes southeast of Winnipeg, showed five life-sized dolls hanging by their necks from nooses on a makeshift gallows. Four of the dolls had different municipal ward numbers painted on, including wards two, four, five and six.

One doll hanging from the centre was dressed in a red cap, crown and wore a dollar-sign necklace.

The dolls also each had a letter attached which, combined, spelled “karma.”

Beside the gallows, a sign hanging from a dummy dressed in a firefighter uniform read, “Taché Municipal Masters For Sale” and referenced the mayor, council and fire chief.

The fenced-in property had various no-trespassing signs, declaring the property as “sovereign land.”

“I don’t like to see things like this,” Premier Wab Kinew said at an unrelated event Friday afternoon. “I don’t think any of us want to see violent imagery or allusions to that. I know (Minister of Municipal and Northern Relations of Manitoba) Glen Simard has been reaching out to local leadership in Ste-Geneviève. We will offer support in the appropriate way.

“No matter what the issue is, no matter how fired up you are about politics or policy, we’ve got to keep things calm, we’ve got to keep it respectful. You can find a way to articulate your objection, maybe even a personal criticism of a politician such as myself. But we don’t need to have a visual or something that is violent.”

RM of Taché Mayor Armand Poirier and several of the municipality’s councillors declined to comment about the display Friday.

However, Poirier said he has called a special council meeting for Saturday afternoon and confirmed that Simard had reached out from the province.

In a statement issued Friday, the Association of Manitoba Municipalities said it’s aware of the unsettling display.

“Such imagery is unacceptable and has no place in our communities,” the statement read. “The AMM strongly condemns any act that threatens or intimidates municipal leaders. Municipal officials are democratically elected to serve and represent their residents and deserve to do so safely and without fear.

“In recognition of the growing challenges of intimidation and harassment facing elected officials, the AMM has been proactively developing a toolkit to address misinformation, disinformation, and harassment in public life, which will be released soon to further support and protect members.”

— With files from Matthew Frank and Gabrielle Piché

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca