Three posters promoting a white nationalist group have been spotted downtown, and although some people tried to peel them away Mayor Diane Therrien says the city will work to quickly remove what remains of these "hateful displays."

Therrien also called on any citizen who knows who put up the racist posters to phone her personally or city police Deputy Chief Tim Farquharson.

"The city of Peterborough stands against white nationalism/neo-nazis and these outdated, sickening ideals," she wrote in an email to The Examiner on Monday.

"We cannot and will not sit idle during incidents such as this."

The red-and-white posters promote ID Canada, an identitarianist group (meaning it strives to protect Canada's "identity" from migration).

"Canada was never meant to be a melting pot of third-world migration," states the ID Canada website. "Diversity is in fact our greatest weakness."

"That's just the promotion of hate - so blatant," Charmaine Magumbe, chair of the Community Race Relations Committee of Peterborough, said on Monday.

Coun. Stephen Wright also said he was upset with those who put up the posters.

"Sadly these people are plagued with a disease of hatred," he wrote in a text, but added that he believes the city will take a stand against bigotry.

The posters were first seen downtown on Saturday.

Some people tried to remove them, but by Monday three posters were still visible: they were applied with glue to smooth surfaces, making them difficult to peel away.

Anti-racist decals were also applied to the posters.

One poster was glued to the inside of a bus shelter in front of the main city bus terminal on Simcoe Street. Two more were glued to metal electrical boxes on George Street at Charlotte Street.

Therrien wrote Monday she'd been in touch with city staff, police and groups such as the race relations committee, and that the city would work to remove what's left of the posters.

Although the group's website says there are nine local chapters operating in Canada, the cities are not listed.

There could be a local chapter or a couple of members in Peterborough, said Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

"By putting up the posters in town, they're saying, 'We're here,'" he said.

According to Balgord, there are no more than 50 to 100 ID Canada members across the country, and if there's a group in Peterborough, it likely has fewer than six members.

The posters aren't just a local occurrence: ID Canada's Twitter feed shows photos of posters in big cities such as Toronto and smaller ones such as Kingston.

Meanwhile, Peterborough recently joined a national coalition of cities devoted to curbing racism.

In a ceremony at city hall on Dec. 10, Therrien signed the paperwork to have Peterborough join the Canadian Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities.

There was meaning behind that declaration, she said, "and we will continue to work against racism and hatred."

Therrien asks anyone who knows who's putting up the posters to contact Farquharson, the race Relations committee or her personally at dtherrien@peterborough.ca or 705-872-7905.

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joelle.kovach

@peterboroughdaily.com